


All That I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)

by bobbiejelly



Series: Guess Who's Crushing on Addison Montgomery? [49]
Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Christmas Presents, Dramatic Irony, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Femslash, Fluff, Holidays, MerAdd, Plotting, Secret Santa, meddison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:47:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28248609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobbiejelly/pseuds/bobbiejelly
Summary: The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'.
Relationships: Meredith Grey/Addison Montgomery
Series: Guess Who's Crushing on Addison Montgomery? [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797412
Comments: 94
Kudos: 73





	1. ONE

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreadfulnorepinephrine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreadfulnorepinephrine/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Keep Your Eyes On Me (it's just wrong enough to make it feel right)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27737473) by [Dreadfulnorepinephrine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreadfulnorepinephrine/pseuds/Dreadfulnorepinephrine). 
  * Inspired by [Snowed In](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27882286) by [Hime_no_Kowai_Shumi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hime_no_Kowai_Shumi/pseuds/Hime_no_Kowai_Shumi). 



_Author's Note:_

Remember that enemies to lovers cheesy lesbian Christmas special that you'd been asking for?

Set sometime between seasons one two and three.

Y'know, the ones where Addison Montgomery was at Seattle Grace and Meredith Grey was an intern.

_bobbiejelly_

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**ONE**

* * *

"Come ON Addison, you HAVE to play with us!" Callie Torres pleads with her for the sixtieth time that afternoon.

"No way, absolutely not! I've got enough on my plate with eighteen surgeries in the next eight days because everybody seems to be having babies right before the holidays!" Addison Montgomery groans at her.

"Well this could cheer you up, don't you think?" offers Callie. "It's only a week!" she begs. "And besides, we have an uneven number now, so if you don't play how have we supposed to-"

"Not gonna happen, Callie," Addison glares at her. "So don't even bother trying!" she adds.

"You don't even want to see the holiday cheer when people bring you gifts all mysteriously? You won't be jealous when people are finding little stocking stuffers all over the place with their names on it, and you don't even get a single one?" Callie tries again.

"Nope. Not at all. Nada!" Addison turns the corner, attempting to get away from the reasonings of her best friend.

"You don't even want to do it so you can show me up at my own game?" Callie wiggles her eyebrows, trying out another tactic.

"Not gonna work on me, I'm not that competitive," Addison rolls her eyes teasingly.

"How about doing it so you can be better at it than Derek?" Callie smirks at Addison, and she knows she's won when Addison's expression falters for a split-second, and that's how Callie recognizes that she's finally struck a nerve.

"Get out-" says Addison, not wanting to crumble so quickly.

"Fine by me," Callie waves her arms in the air, as if in surrender.

She leaves the room, and Addison follows her, and Callie doesn't mention it for the rest of the day.

So Callie messages everyone and reports that they're going ahead with whatever numbers they have anyway.

_And Addison Montgomery slips her name into the hat at the very last minute, without Callie ever having noticed it's presence at all._

"Alright, and last but not least, out of all of the interns, and all of the attendings…" Callie drags out her voice long enough for Mark to start doing a drumroll before Callie sighs at him and he stops tapping on the conference table.

"Addison Montgomery!" Callie announces in a chipper voice, only it's eclipsed by Mark announcing it over her because he, along with everyone else, already knew the answer.

Only Callie hadn't known the answer, because she thought that Addison hadn't put her name in, so she's staring wide-eyed in confusion as the redhead approaches her, and gestures for Callie to hand her the hat with the one remaining piece of paper on it.

"Bring it on," Addison challenges.

"But I thought you didn't want to?" Callie shrugs at the redhead.

"Wel, I didn't want to leave you hanging, now what kind of friend would I be?" offers Addison.

"Yeah, I guess you're glad that I put up with all of your drunken rampages, huh," Callie teases.

"Hey, I do not rampage!" says Addison.

"I probably would too, if my husband left me for a blonde perky intern, and doesn't even have the heart to divorce me yet" Callie teases.

"Hey, don't remind me," Addison groans.

"Oh, relax, it's not like you're gonna pick your husband's name out of there. I mean, what are the odds of that?" Callie giggles.

So Addison reaches into the hat, and unfolds the paper, and then puts it into her pocket.

"You're not gonna tell me who it is?" Callie whines at her.

"Well then it wouldn't be a secret Santa, now would it?" says Addison.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that one. Good luck, and remember the price limit!" Callie insists to her.

"I will," Addison says in a singsong voice.

As Callie scampers away to put her hat back into her locker, Addison takes the slip of paper out of her pocket and opens it again to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating the first time.

But nope, apparently, her eyesight's 2020 even with the glasses because as fate has it, she's somehow acquired the name of her archenemies;

_Meredith Grey._

Addison nearly loses it at the sight alone, but instead, she keeps it together, and she tries to think of a plan.

'This could be good, actually…' Addison thinks to herself.

'Maybe if I get really creative with these gifts, she'll fall in love with whomever she thinks is sending them, and then she'll stay the hell away from my husband,' Addison muses.

'Yes, that's definitely going to work!' Addison schemes to herself, as she plans on heading out to the mall later to begin her first round of hospital 'secret Santa.'

'Let the games begin!,' Addison laughs evilly to herself.

_Indeed._

The mall ends up being completely packed, and Addison has to fight tooth and nail not to be run over by the overly stressed-out shoppers who are all trying to find the perfect package to go along with their other perfect packages.

Hi, may I help you with anything?" some very kind store person asks Addison.

"Huh?" Addison responds, lost in thought.

"Are you shopping for anyone in particular?" the stranger asks sweetly.

"Ha- oh, yes, see-" Addison cuts herself off before she explains that she's by some twisted fate shopping, anonymously, for her still?-husband's ex-mistresses' seven days' worth of holiday gifts.

"Do you know what they're into?" the store person tries.

' _My husband,'_ Addison thinks in her head, but of course, she doesn't say that part aloud.

"Umm, I have no idea," Addison shrugs. "Do you have anything under twenty dollars?" Addison follows-up with that.

"Absolutely," she's led to the aisle with all of the items in her 'secret-Santa,' price range.

"Would you like a moment to decide?" this nice person asks her.

"That would be great," says Addison, eyes blurring at the overwhelming amount of choices.

Addison ponders what on earth this blonde woman would like. Is she into stuffed animals? No, that's probably too childish, Addison imagines. Books? Too academic. Music? Too tricky.

Addison keeps click-clacking her high-heels up and down the busy toy aisles before she picks out what she expects to be the very perfect gift to finally seduce her enemy for the most malicious of purposes.

"That'll be $19.99, how would you like to pay today?" The cashier says in a chipper voice.

_And she's spot-on with the most impeccable price tag, to beat._

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 1**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Any guesses as to what Meredith's first secret-Santa gift is? The first correct guess will win a 100-word Meredith/Addison one-shot of your choice :).

_bobbiejelly_


	2. TWO

_Author's Note:_

Thanks so much, folks for everyone who has put in a guess about Addison's gift for Meredith!

_bobbiejelly_

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**TWO**

* * *

"Seattle Grace secret Santa sucks," George O'Malley complains loudly to his best friends.

"Careful there, Bambi. Your Santa might hear you, and not get you anything else!" Cristina Yang teases. "Easy for you to say! You got an entire pack of bubble wrap. That's like, the greatest secret Santa gift of all time!" George whines and puts his own gift at the table.

"Ooh, is this George's gift? It's so cute!" says Izzie Stevens, as she sits down with them at the table.

"It's a stuffed animal! And I'm fully grown!" says George.

"It's a _panda_ ," says Izzie.

"Well, if you like it so much, we can trade," George huffs.

"Sure," says Izzie. "Mine's a CD, but I don't own a player," Izzie shrugs.

"IS THAT A EUGENE FOOTE CD!?" George exclaims. "Awesome!"

And George skips off happily with his newly acquired prize, wanting to experience his new tunes for himself.

"I think I'm going to name this panda… 'Mulligan,' Izzie smiles, and pats her stuffed toy on the head.

"Yo, what'd you get?" Alex Karev stalks on over.

Christina holds up her bubble wrap, and pops it in Alex's face for effect.

"Dude, you got ripped. Those packs cost ten-ninety-nine," Alex laughs

"Hey, don't be jealous, Evil Spawn," offers Cristina. "Besides, I heard that you just got a boring book," Cristina laughs.

"Hey, I read," Alex retorts, before he stalks away.

"Hey, where's Mer?" Alex gruffs, and for once, Cristina has no idea.

"Probably with McDreamy," Cristina shrugs.

"You think she's-" Alex starts, but Cristina leaves before he finishes that sentence.

"What, I was just gonna say 'do you think she's gotten a better gift than we did?' what did you think I was gonna say," Alex rolls his eyes at no-one, before he walks away also.

"Hey look, ours are matching!" says Derek Shepherd to Mark Sloan.

"Do you want to wear them together?" asks Derek.

"Wait, really?" says Mark. "Plus, I don't know if I can fit in this size…" says Mark.

"It's medium! You're a medium!" says Derek.

"Yeah, when I was in college. Now I'm more of a large!" says Mark.

"You wish you were a large!" says Derek.

"What the hell are they talking about!?" says Callie Torres, while walking by.

"Their secret Santa gifts," Cristina snickers, as she walks by.

"Wait- you didn't get them-" Callie says in surprise.

"Of course not!" says Cristina.

"Someone got us matching sweaters!" Mark emerges, while motioning between him and Derek.

"Oh, nice," says Callie, recovering.

"I think you might need a smaller size, Mark, that one's dropping around your neckline," says Addison, as she walks by them.

"Told you so," says Derek.

"Wait but what did you both get!?" says Mark, gesturing between Callie and Addison.

"I got this awesome bracelet, see, it sparkles!" says Callie.

"Great minds seem to think alike for your case," says Addison, pointing to the boys.

"Do you think they worked together on it? Or is it just a coincidence?" says Derek.

"I like to think it was a team effort," says Mark.

"I think it depends on who the team is composed of…" says Derek.

"Hey, no crushing the holiday spirit!" says Callie.

"Well, I'm off to find my holiday spirit," says Addison. "I haven't had the chance to check my mailbox yet," she just laughs.

"Ooh! I hope you like it!" says Callie. "Aren't you glad you decided to participate!" she insists.

"It's growing on me…" says Addison, secretly waiting for her gift recipient to receive her present.

Addison had purposely stashed it away from Meredith's friend's prying eyes, and in a chart that she knew that Meredith had been working on.

Addison traveled in that direction, all the while keeping her eyes peeled for any errant gifts bearing her name in her path.

"Oh, Addie," says Richard Webber. "I got your gift this morning," he says.

"What?" says Addison.

"It was signed by you, so I figured…" Richard trails off.

"Oh, I'm not the only one who signed up for 'secret Santa,' it could be anyone," she explains to him.

"Oh, well that's interesting," says Richard. "And here I was just about to thank you for these bath products," he says.

"Nice-" says Addison awkwardly, very much wanting never to think of her boss taking a bath ever, ever, again.

"Oh, have you seen Bailey?" asks Richard.

"Not yet," says Addison.

"Well, alright then. Let her know when you see her there's a package the size of her in the conference room," says Richard.

"Will do," says Addison, and with that, she's off again.

"IT'S A VACCUM CLEANER SHAPED LIKE R2D2!" Addison hears Bailey say as she passes by the conference room.

"It's a marvel. Oh, it's fantastic!" says Bailey, "I'm in love!" She kisses the box dramatically.

"Wow, you must have a very perceptive Santa," says Addison.

"Hey, you don't be jealous. I have five interns to manage, I ain't got time to do no vacuuming," says Bailey.

"Hey, you deserve it," says Addison.

"Have you gotten your gift yet?" says Bailey curiously.

"No, I'm on my way to check out my mailbox," says Addison.

"Well, good luck with it. I hope you get a good gift, but I don't think you'll surpass mine," says Bailey, dancing with her vacuum cleaner.

"I'll keep that in mind," Addison laughs.

"Hey, have you seen Meredith?" Cristina interrupts Addison on the way to her mailbox.

"No, I haven't seen her this morning. Have you?" Addison says honestly.

"Not since 6 in the morning!" says Cristina.

"That's pretty early," says Addison.

"Do you know what she got for her gift?" says Cristina.

"No, I don't," Addison lies, hopefully convincingly.

"Well, it's sure keeping her occupied!" says Cristina. "And that's coming from someone who's gotten an entire pack of bubble wrap…" she stalks off.

' _So she did get it,' Addison thinks, pleased with herself._

When Addison finally reaches her mailbox, she's a bit disappointed there's nothing from her secret Santa in it.

"Huh, maybe they've forgotten," says Addison, shrugging to herself, and trying not to feel too neglected.

So she heads on to her next surgery, and tries to keep herself focused on the patient, and not on her inner turmoil at being a little too attached to this 'secret Santa,' game now that she's playing it.

"Oh, there's a delivery for you," nurse Olivia Harper emerges from the next room to hand Addison this package. "It's not from me. We have our own one for the nurses. This is from one of the surgeons. But they told me not to tell you which one," says Olivia, before scampering away.

"Thanks-" says Addison, but the nurse is already gone.

Addison is about to open her gift when she gets a 9-1-1 page from Preston Burke.

"Damnit," Addison exclaims, as she brings the gift along to the O.R scrub room with her as she answers the page at a run.

"How is she doing?" Addison asks as she bursts into the scrub room.

"We need another set of hands in here!" says Burke, as he controls the bleeding.

Addison scrubs in, and gently lays down her present next to the door, and assists Burke with the cardiac complications of this pregnant woman until she's stable.

"Whew, that was a close one," says Burke.

"Yes, it's good you paged me when you did," says Addison.

"Do you have any guesses for your secret Santa yet?" says Burke. "I believe that Dr. Yang is making up a spreadsheet," he offers.

"No idea, I haven't opened mine yet," says Addison. "What about you?" she says curiously.

"Well, I've gotten an exotic blend of coffee, so either I've gotten Cristina or someone who's been talking to Cristina," says Burke.

"Well, I guess you're happy then," says Addison.

"I am," says Burke.

"And you?" he says.

"I haven't found out yet," says Addison as she scrubs out.

Her pages beeps again just as she's about to open her present, and Addison swears lightly as she rushes off (with her package, of course), to another O.R.

"Dr. Montgomery, it's good to see you," says Meredith Grey in a chipper mood.

"Likewise," says Addison, playing nice.

"Hey Addie, could you monitor the fetal monitor?" Derek Shepherd asks her, as he monitors her head closely.

"Sure," Addison tries not to bristle at being called her old nickname.

"Meredith here has been rocking this surgery!" says Derek as he continues to excise the tumor, shamelessly throwing Meredith his McDreamy smiles.

"Well, I'm happy to hear it," says Addison, as she scrubs in and checks out the baby.

"Hey, what did you get?" says Meredith curiously.

"I have no idea, I haven't gotten a chance to open it yet," says Addison.

"Oh, well, I guess you'll find out after this," says Meredith happily, as they complete the surgery with Addison's assistance.

They all scrub out, and finally, Meredith can't contain herself any longer and begs Addison to open her present in front of her.

"Alright, Grey," says Addison. "Just because you did an incredible job on that craniotomy," she smiles, and Meredith beams at her.

"Yeah," she says. "I'm so glad.."

"Oh look!" says Addison happily, lighting up when she sees her present. "It's a new bathrobe, and some bubbles, and a box of chocolates," says Addison.

"Well someone's trying to get you naked," Derek teases, and Addison rolls her eyes at how unnecessary Derek is being.

"Well somebody's trying to get YOU dressed," Addison retorts, pointing to the sweater that Derek is still wearing.

And as they all walk out of the O.R, Addison smiles subtly as she sees Meredith pick up her now opened gift from the table before heading out.

She's clutching it close to her chest, knowing that it's going to be the key to a very very good week for her.

Once she's alone, Meredith sits on one of the on-call room beds, and opens up her new diary with her new key, and checks off 'Step One,' where it's written on the first of the pages.

Her secret Santa sure knows that super-secret-surgical tactics are the well-worn way to worm themselves into her heart.

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 2**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Well, how did you like this? Were any of you correct? As far as the guesses were when I posted this, none of the guesses were spot-on for after Chapter 1, so I'll extend the same contest for the next chapter- whomever guesses the gift in advance can win a 100-word Meredith/Addison one-shot of their choice!

Enjoy your New Year's Eve folks!

_bobbiejelly_


	3. THREE

_Author's Note:_

Thanks for the lovely guesses folks! Let's see if anyone is spot on today… ;)

_bobbiejelly_

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**THREE**

* * *

The following morning comes around, and Addison Forbes Montgomery has already been up for hours trying to piece together a new gift for Meredith Grey.

"Damnit!" says Addison as she fumbles with the packaging, the ribbon completely untying as she tried to redo it again.

She kept it up, though, her groans stifled by the thick walls of the Archfield Hotel room.

Addison had planned on wrapping it the night before, but she'd gotten distracted by her own gift from her 'secret Santa,' and she'd chosen to indulge.

She had run herself a bath, and put in her own bath salts, and then she'd opened up her little bottle of children's bubbles and made the little rainbow circles dance all over the room.

It was mesmerizing, and Addison was so excited that somehow, her secret Santa had guessed that her guilty pleasure was soap bubbles.

They were just so sweet and happy, and Addison especially loved them in the bath, because the bath was already filled with soap anyway.

She put on some music, and soaked herself clean, and she allowed her mind to wander as she opened up her box of chocolates, and popped them into her mouth one by one.

' _I bet Meredith enjoyed her gift,' Addison imagines. 'If I were still an intern, I would love it if somebody wrote down a few extra tips & tricks for me to succeed in the O.R,' says Addison. 'Besides, that diary is just so sweet with its floral patterns, and mini lock and key…' Addison imagines._

Addison chides herself for caring so much about what Meredith thought about her gift though.

' _It still has to appear as though Derek gave it to her!' Addison thinks to herself._

Addison sighs as she picks out another chocolate to eat before she gets out of the bath, and puts on her new fluffy bathrobe, and drains the tub, and brushes her teeth, and heads right off to bed.

So that was last night, and now it's this morning, and that's why Addison is still struggling with the wrapping paper right before her first scheduled surgery.

* * *

"Ah, so this time, it's a Rubik's cube!?" says Meredith, as she watches her best friend, Cristina Yang open her secret Santa present.

"Appears so," says Cristina. "I guess Santa must be on some sort of fidget toy kick…" Cristina shrugs. "I love it though, hey look, I made a flower!" she shows off.

"Wow, and that de-stresses you!?" offers Meredith. "I think it would just stress me out…" says the blonde.

"Hey, you never said your gift from yesterday was," says Cristina.

"Oh, just a notebook," says Meredith nonchalantly. The last thing she needs is for Cristina to come prying and to steal all of her secrets.

"Is it at least patterned?" says Cristina.

"Yeah, it has nice flowers on it," says Meredith.

"Did they get you something for today?" Cristina asks her.

"I'll go check…" Meredith says musingly, as she hops away easily to complete her quest.

* * *

Meredith Grey heads off to an empty on-call room to open her diary today. She's expecting to see another present where she'd found the last one in the charts, but nope, nothing.

So she checks her locker, but there's nothing there either.

So she finally decides she'll take down some notes when she realizes her secret Santa must still have one of the keys to her diary, because there is a new message inscribed upon it.

_Hey there Sweetness,_

_You did fantastic in surgery yesterday!_

Meredith beams immediately at the compliments, and also at being called 'Sweetness," a name that so far, nobody has ever called her ever.

She keeps reading, as she realizes she's blushing a little, as the message continues.

_For your next present, I have a special surprise for you; check by the exam room at ten-twenty (you know the one!), and it will be waiting for you._

_-Santa_

Meredith reads her note over and over, and she gets goosebumps in anticipation.

With a wide smile on her face, Meredith diligently locks her diary again, placing it where she had it before in her locker, and scampers off to her first surgery, whilst setting an alarm on her phone for ten-twenty sharp.

* * *

"Watch out!" a voice calls out to Addison Montgomery as she walks into the cafeteria. But it's too late, Addison gets ambushed by a string of Nerf foam darts right as she makes her way to a table.

"Whaaaa-" Addison cries as she moves her arms to her face to defend herself.

"He got you good!" says Karev, smirking.

"Yeah he did!" says Mark Sloan, agreeing.

"High five!" says George O'Malley, approvingly.

"Nice one, Chief," says Derek Shepherd, patting him on the back before heading off to get another pudding cup.

"Richard!?" says Addison, as she brushes the darts off of her shoulder.

"What?" says Richard Webber. "To be fair, I thought you were Bailey," he laughs.

"Right…" says Addison. "WATCH OUT BAILEY!" she turns and yells just as Webber starts firing again.

To her everlasting credit though, Bailey dodges all of the soft toy bullets with ease.

"Santa sure was good to someone today, I see," says Bailey, still chipper.

"Dude, that thing has like, 10 different settings," says Alex.

"And _that is_ why my son is never having one of those, ever!" says Bailey with a groan. "Speaking of boys, has anyone seen Dr. Burke this morning?"

"I think he's with Cristina?" George offers.

"Good for him!" says Mark.

"Has anybody seen Meredith?" says Derek.

"Shouldn't we be asking you that?" says Alex.

"Hey, I was in surgery!" replies Derek.

"And you're gonna be in surgery now," interrupts Bailey. "O.R three, there's a patient who might have a subdural hematoma. Take my interns with you. Both of them. I got my hands full with another case," she orders.

"Well, you heard her," says Richard, while simultaneously shooting Bailey, finally, with his Nerf gun.

"Score!" says Mark enthusiastically.

"NOW!" says Bailey, scathingly.

And Addison helps Bailey remove the Nerf dart from her sweater before she motions for Alex, and George to follow her, and leads Derek Shepherd to their next patient.

"And stop playing with those silly putty packages!" Bailey can be heard yelling from all the way down the hallway. "I can still see you doing that, and I don't care if those are from secret Santa, I'll have my new Star-Wars Vaccum pick those up in a heartbeat with the new attachment I got for it this morning!" Bailey says.

"No new sweaters this morning?" Addison resumes the conversation with Mark after the group of them has gone off.

"Hey, you didn't even notice the new pants, Addison?" says Mark. "I'm hurt!" He frowns mockingly.

"They look just like your old ones, the same brand too," says Addison.

"Oh, I didn't notice," Mark shrugs. "Aren't they in a different color?" he says.

"You've had those exact same pants for three years," Addison deadpans.

"Oh, I guess my secret Santa must really know me!" Mark smiles.

"And Derek," says Addison laughing. "Now HE has on new pants this morning," she smiles.

"I thought THOSE were the same ones…" says Mark.

"Okay, see this is why I used to dress you both," quips Addison.

"You dressed both of them?" asks Richard.

"What, like you didn't have both Ellis Grey and your wife Adele dressing you," Addison rolls her eyes at him.

"Touche," says Richard. "Now I have surgery, are you coming?" he offers. "I could use a few extra sets of hands," he smiles.

"No shooting me with the Nerf gun!" says Addison.

"What about me?" says Mark.

"You were invited," says Richard.

"But can I shoot the Nerf gun?" he begs.

"In surgery!?" Addison questions.

"Well, no, but-" Mark shrugs.

"Hmm, I could use another surgeon as well, perhaps an intern…" Richard muses. "Wanna point one out for me?" Richard offers the Nerf gun to Addison, just to annoy Sloan.

"Sure…" says Addison, picking out her target and lining up her shot perfectly.

* * *

But just as she shoots, her target moves, and she ends up striking Meredith Grey in the shoulder instead of Izzie Stevens.

"She shoots, she scores!" Cheers Mark as Addison hits her target.

Addison panics internally though, because it's nine-fifty-five now, and Meredith is supposed to collect her gift soon, and now Addison has to figure out a way for that still to happen without making it obvious.

"Whaaa-?" Meredith has a very similar reaction to being struck suddenly by a projectile.

"Gotcha!" Addison exclaims, not bothering to feign innocence.

"Whoa, what now, is this some sort of joke?" says Meredith.

"What, I'm not worthy of being treated as target practice?" Izzie teases.

"Wait, let me try!" says Meredith, wrestling the Nerf gun from Addison.

As she does, Meredith feels an unexpected warmth in her hands as hers meets the redheads, and Meredith tries to distract herself from that fact.

"Look out!" says Richard, but Meredith's already fired.

"Huh!?" says Preston Burke as he enters the room to get a snack after his surgery.

"Secret Santa gift," Richard shrugs.

"Oh, just you wait!" says Burke, as he pulls out his own secret Santa gift; a toy slingshot, and starts launching ping-pong balls at the other surgeons to chase them away.

"Guess you are target practice, after all, Izzie!" Exclaims Meredith.

"Yup," says Addison, her eyes crinkling subconsciously at Meredith's delight.

' _What the hell is going on with me that I'm rooting for her,' Addison thinks to herself._

"Well, we better get going then," says Richard. "Our patient needs her appendix out," he exclaims.

"Oh, like you weren't the one delaying us," Addison teases.

"Hey, I wasn't the one shooting a Nerf gun," says Izzie, smiling as she holds up her stuffed animals to defend herself from future shots, this morning holding a plush frog to accompany the plush panda that she traded from George yesterday.

And what did you get, Addison?" says Meredith, curiously.

Addison squints at the blonde to see if she's suspicious of her after all, but all she sees is pure wonder and excitement, and Addison gets lost in her big baby blues for a moment before she answers.

"This time I got a bath bomb, and some coconut body cream, a set of truffles, and body wash," offers Addison.

"Wow, they're really into the bath kick, huh," says Richard. "You see I had a great bath yesterday-" he starts, before Meredith groans loudly.

"Hey, you were with my mother once, so I don't wanna know," says Meredith.

"I heard you got bubbles yesterday, Dr. Montgomery," says Izzie. "That looked fun!" she says.

"It was," says Addison.

"Did you blow them in the bath?" Meredith teases, and Addison gasps imperceptibly at Meredith's phrasing.

"What-" Addison says, before sobering up and answering. "As a matter of fact, I did," she says proudly.

"I bet…" Meredith says slowly, before she winks at Addison, and runs off before anyone is quick enough to stop her.

And Addison stays there, starstruck for a moment, before Richard tags her sides with the Nerf gun again to get her attention.

"Dr. Montgomery, we have surgery," says the Chief.

"Here, I'll help," says Izzie, removing the toy darts from her shirt.

And Addison barely registers the contact as she replays over and over in her mind all the words Dr. Grey had just said to her.

"Addison!?" says Richard, finally snapping her back into the present.

"Right, on the way!" says Addison, as she turns the corner with them, silently disappointed that she can't spy on Meredith as she discovers the next part of her gift.

* * *

Meredith Grey is extremely grateful that she's alone when she enters the exam room, and finds the large box under the table, as promised.

She figures it's the right one, because it's the one where she and Derek snuck off to during the hospital prom.

And all those memories fade in comparison to what she discovers in this little pink box.

Because in it, she slowly unwraps a set of black lingerie, made of silk, and detailed with lace.

And underneath it she finds a new set of black panties, nearly identical to the ones she'd lost on that very evening, long ago, and that she'd never retrieved from the bulletin board.

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 3**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Ha- did you like that one? (Yes, it was inspired by a recent tweet on the #meddison tag).

Merry Christmas everyone, have a good one!

Now taking guesses for what gifts they get the following day… The winner still gets a 100 word Meredith/Addison one-shot :).

_bobbiejelly_


	4. FOUR

_Author's Note:_

Ha, did I trick you yesterday?

_bobbiejelly_

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**FOUR**

* * *

After having her jaw drop to the floor upon receiving her secret Santa present. Meredith just stands there for a moment appreciating the gift.

She blushes again as she thinks about it.

The panties are soft, soft like her favorite black set that she'd worn to the prom.

They're just her size, and they look incredibly sexy as hell.

Meredith stows it away in her locker, making sure it won't fall out immediately if she were to look for a snack there in front of her friends.

Of course, Meredith wonders who gave them to her.

Derek would be an obvious choice, because he'd have seen her in those panties, and he would get her a gift like that.

But then again, he'd never called her 'sweetness,' before, so Meredith finds that a bit strange.

Honestly, though, Meredith is busy enough preparing her own secret Santa presents so she doesn't have a whole lot of time to over-analyze it before she falls asleep in an on-call room, and wakes up the next morning, gratefully well-rested.

As she makes her way back to the locker room the next morning, she's interrupted by an incoming flying object.

"Catch!" Meredith hears a voice behind her, and she opens her arms out reflexively.

The object lands in her palms, and Meredith examines it, before looking up to see Cristina smiling at her.

"A fidget spinner?" says Meredith.

"Yeah, the original kind," says Cristina.

"Whoa, your secret Santa definitely has a theme!" says Meredith.

"And what about yours, does yours have a theme?" asks Cristina.

' _Seductive. Sensual. Borderline sexting me,' Meredith thinks idly._

"More stuff for my journal," Meredith lies.

"Ah, must be into paper crafts," says Cristina.

"Must be…" says Meredith, as she walks away to follow her friend, and then doubles back to make sure she actually locked her locker completely.

* * *

"Yang, with Dr. Shepherd. Stevens, also with Dr. Shepherd. Karev, with Dr. Burke. O'Malley, also with Dr. Burke. And Grey, you're with-" Bailey drones on.

"I'm with Dr. Montgomery, right?" says Meredith, feeling a slight twitch when she says that alud, though she can't seem to register why.

"Correct, Grey, go find Dr. Montgomery, she's probably in the NICU," says Dr. Bailey.

"Will do," says Meredith, as she promises to catch up with her intern friends soon.

"Dr. Grey," Addison says in a very deliberate, professional tone as the intern enters the NICU.

"Dr. Sh- Montgomery," Meredith curses internally at herself after she'd almost messed up her Attending's name.

"Would you like to observe?" Addison offers, and Meredith nods as she approaches the doctor with the fiery red hair.

"They're so little," says Meredith as she sees the twin babies sleeping.

"They sure are. Like two peas in a pod, those two," Addison smiles.

"What ah-" Meredith tries hard not to blurt out 'what's wrong with them,' as she tries to figure out a more eloquent way to say that question.

"They have some skin complications, unfortunately," says Addison.

"Okay," Meredith keeps nodding.

She feels Addison's gaze, and it's somehow piercing today, and she shivers just a little under her undivided attention.

"Luckily, Dr.-" Addison is about to keep explaining the case to the intern, but of course, Dr. Mark Sloan enters the room at just that moment and beats her to the punch.

"The babies will undergo a partial skin transplant," says Mark Sloan proudly.

"Neat," says Meredith, easily impressed by a surgery as an intern.

As Meredith gives Mark her undivided attention, it sparks a strange sort of jealousy in Addison, somehow craving the eye contact after having held it with the blonde mere minutes ago.

"And of course, this being an eight-week old it's a special case. We'll be monitoring all her vitals at all times, and we'll keep the family informed," Addison smiles sweetly.

"Neat," Meredith offers Addison as well, turning over her shoulder to face the redhead again.

And Addison can't help but stand taller as Meredith faces her, suddenly proud, and feeling the need to compete for the intern's affections- wait what now- attentions- wait, is that even a word!?

"And everyone loves skin!" Mark says excitedly, as he grins his signature McSteamy grin.

"True!" says Meredith, laughing at Dr. Sloan's obvious slight innuendo, because the man simply cannot help himself.

And of course, Mark being Mark, and Mark knowing Addison like the back of his hand, he sees Addison glaring slightly at him, and this only makes him smirk even more.

"And of course, Dr. Grey, if you do a really good job for me, I might even let you hold the skin flap," Mark offers, raising his eyebrows at Addison the entire time.

"That is, if you're not more interested in holding the scalpel, and making the first incision," Addison ups the ante, knowing confidently that Meredith can handle this.

"Really!" says Meredith excitedly, unaware at this point of the thrumming competition brewing between the two other doctors.

"Absolutely," says Addison. "Let's get them prepared, shall we?" Addison motions, and Meredith nods, and Addison shoots a look over her shoulder at Mark as if to say to him 'take that!'.

"Sure," says Meredith, moving right away to prepare their patients.

' _Is she wearing them!?' Addison can't help but imagine as she watches the woman's hips sway as she leaves the room._

"Oh, you've got it SO BAD," says Mark to Addison, grinning, as he watches Addison watching Meredith.

"Huh?" says Addison, snapping out of her trance, and finding Mark staring at her.

"Good luck with that," he stalks off, whistling to himself, as he leaves the flustered redhead to wonder what on earth he could be grinning so widely about.

* * *

"Nice belt," says Derek Shepherd to Mark Sloan as he sees him walk by.

"To you too," says Mark to his friend.

"I feel like our secret Santas' are copying each other," says Derek.

"Yeah, or working together," says Mark.

"I wonder how they know which sizes to buy?" says Derek.

"Well, one of them could be Addison. She would know, right?" says Mark.

"Right, I guess she would," Derek laughs, hardly even bitter about it.

"Speaking of Addison, you'll never guess what I saw this morning…" Mark rambles on, and Derek gossips with him all the way to the scrub room.

* * *

"A tiger?" Meredith guesses incorrectly after she's finished prepping the patient, and she's waiting for Mark and/or Addison to page her.

"A lion," says Izzie, as she shows off her latest stuffed animal. "I'm going to have to get a basket for these," Izzie muses. "They're so soft!"

"No projectiles today?" Meredith laughs as Richard Webber enters the room.

"Nope, today I've received a hat stand for my office," says Richard.

"Oh, how thoughtful," says Meredith. "Wait, do you even wear hats?" she quirks.

"He has," says Alex. "Dude, don't you remember?" he laughs.

"Not really?" Meredith shrugs.

"Well, it was really only that one time," says Richard, and Meredith nods at him.

"What did Santa bring you today?" Meredith asks Alex.

"Check it out-" he says, as he pulls out a three-dimensional puzzle.

"Nice!" says Meredith.

"Not as cool as this Transformer," says George O'Malley, as he approaches their table. "Plus Burke's got a toy train it can ride on," he offers.

"Whoa, it can be a whole village," says Meredith.

"Well, I hope this whole village you speak of will be outside of the hospital!" Bailey says as she comes thundering over. "And just you watch. Because my secret Santa's gotten me a high-speed vacuum cleaner attachment today," says Bailey, and this frightens the surgeons enough they all scatter back to their jobs.

* * *

"Oops, gotta go, that's Mark and Addison," says Meredith to Cristina after they finish their snacks in the hallway.

"Oof, enjoy the trials of the ex-lovers," Cristina snorts.

"Hey, they're not lovers anymore," Meredith frowns, wondering why she's defending them all of a sudden.

"Well someone's testy about the most unexpected people," says Cristina. "Here, want a fidget toy to help calm you down?" She offers.

"Can't fidget, gotta go find them," says Meredith as she hops up, and Cristina just shrugs and goes back to her Rubik's cube.

Meanwhile, Addison ends up nearly late to her own surgery when she discovers a gift basket with her name on it in the middle of the hallway.

"What's this?" she wonders, as she opens it. It's a set of real flowers, some lightly scented creams, and little essential oil beads, all again, apparently, for the bath.

"Well someone looks like they have a relaxing evening ahead of them," Mark Sloans smirks as he walks up beside her. "Are you thinking about wanting to share, because I-" he starts to offer, but Addison covers his mouth with her palm to shut him right up?

"Nope, this is all for me, Mark, nice try," says Addison.

"What, you don't want me to keep you warm in there?" Mark teases, completely aware of the blonde entering the hallway behind them.

"As I said, I think I'll be perfectly capable of turning on the hot water myself," protests Addison, scoffing at the idea of Mark intruding on her personal time.

' _Meredith though… I wonder if she likes bubble baths?' Addison wonders, and then she mentally kicks herself for letting her mind wander in this way all over again._

"Dr. Sloan, and Dr. Montgomery, don't we have a surgery to get to!? Or are you two too busy flirting for us to get to the patient!?" Meredith rages.

"We were just finishing up here, Dr. Grey," Mark smirks easily.

"Yes, Dr. Sloan was just going to stop that," says Addison, as she leads Meredith out of the hallway and towards the patient room. "And we were NOT flirting," she huffs, and Mark makes the whole thing worse by winking at Meredith.

"Oh, look who's flirting now," Meredith teases, as she calls attention to the wink that Mark just gave her.

"MARK!?" Addison hones in on the plastic surgeons. "FOCUS!?" She commands.

"Yes ma'am," Mark laughs, and Addison just about loses it.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay. I was just kidding-" Meredith laughs.

"But I-" Mark begins, but Addison glares at him.

"Somebody's not kidding," Mark whispers to Meredith, and Addison can only sigh at them both.

* * *

Addison is possessing some bizarre curiosity about knowing whether or not Meredith is wearing those new panties or not, and she has to be extremely careful not to let herself be distracted by the most impure, and also unprofessional thoughts at the moment.

' _Gosh, where the hell is this coming from!?' thinks Addison. 'I don't even want her. Of course, I don't want her. Not that she's un-wantable, just that me being me and her being her, it would be unseemly for ME to want HER. No, I'm just wondering that's all. Just a little bit curious. Because it's normal to give a gift to someone and wonder if they are using it, right!?' Addison talks to herself in her head._

"Dr. Montgomery-" says Meredith. "Addison!?" she repeats when she doesn't get an answer the first time.

"Wha!?" Addison snaps back into reality and blushes when she sees Meredith's eyes beading right at her.

"I asked if I could make the first cut, as promised?" Meredith says easily.

"Oh, yes, of course," says Addison. "Here, would you like me to guide you?" she adds, wanting to make sure the cut is in a good place.

"Yes, please," says Meredith, motioning for Addison to come closer.

Addison leans right in, and holds onto the scalpel over Meredith's hand, guiding her right into the tender skin right where she needs to be.

"There-" says Addison, as she helps Meredith pull back so she doesn't cut too deep or too far.

"Thanks, Dr. Montgomery," says Meredith in a breathy tone, as the redhead stays in place for a second longer than she needed to before backing away.

Meredith notices how Addison smells especially lovely today, and of course, she wonders if all of those bath products have something to do with it.

She rolls this thought over and over in her mind, as she feels Addison's words on the back of her neck, producing goosebumps all over.

"Now, would you like to hold the skin flap?" Mark offers, essentially snapping both of the women out of their trances.

"Oh, yeah," says Meredith, shifting out from Addison unceremoniously, and nearly imperceptibly (at least, to outsiders, though Mark of course, observed it), less enthusiastically as she did with Addison.

As Dr. Grey moves to learn about plastics for a moment, Addison exhales deeply, having felt as though she had just run a marathon by how heavily she found herself breathing.

' _Oh. My. God. Is that how Meredith Grey feels!?' Addison thinks to herself. "She's all curves, and dainty features, and I think I smell lavender," says Addison as she sighs slightly. "What am I thinking!?' she catches herself. 'I've got to get it together,' she chides herself._

And soon enough, after Mark Sloan is finished up his work, the surgery is all over.

* * *

"Hey, would you two ladies like to head out for a drink to celebrate saving these twins' lives!?" Mark says to them both after it's all over. "Or are you just dying to hop into the bath," Mark winks at Addison deliberately?

Addison can't bring herself to answer first, instead, she finds herself staring at Meredith to see what she'll say, knowing subconsciously that she could never willingly decline an offer to spend more time with this unlikely companion.

"I"m down," says Meredith. "I just got to get my coat from my locker, I'll be right out," Meredith skips off, leaving Mark and Addison in her wake.

"Oops, I'm getting a page," says Mark, as he points to his pager. "Give Meredith my best, will ya?" Mark smirks at the redhead, who is standing there slack-jawed at this recent development.

All at once, her heart flips, and nearly stops, and she can feel her hands get all shaky.

"Easy there," says Mark. "You can do this," he encourages as he heads off to meet Burke for an emergent burn patient.

"Thanks…" Addison trails off as she smiles uncharacteristically big for this time of the night.

At this, Addison goes to change quickly before she heads back to the lobby where she finds Meredith Grey waiting for her.

"Good thing I have extra panties for this sort of occasion," Meredith smiles as she walks out of the hospital with Addison, seemingly unfazed by Mark Sloan's sudden disappearance from their evening plans.

' _Oh. She's wearing them NOW,' Addison thinks in her mind. 'Hot,' she thinks before shutting that thought down and pushing it far, far, far away..._

"Yeah, good thing…" says Addison absently, as she silently panics to herself, realizing she'd entirely forgotten to hide Meredith's gift for today after all of her internal conundrums over yesterday's.

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 4**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Have a great one! Keep those gift guesses coming :D. Love it!

(Oops, so I tricked you today, but I hope you enjoyed the plot advances :).

_bobbiejelly_


	5. FIVE

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**FIVE**

* * *

"So, Joe's?" Meredith Grey says very casually as she walks out of the hospital alongside Addison Montgomery.

"Yeah," says Addison shyly, as she walks in the familiar direction.

"Did you know they made pizzas?" says Meredith.

"No, they make pizzas?" says Addison.

"Yeah, new thing. Mini ones, I could use one for dinner, how about you?" says Meredith.

"Yeah, that sounds great," says Addison, as she swears internally in her head.

' _Don't get so close, don't get so close, don't get so close…' Addison thinks to herself._

Meredith holds the door open for Addison, gesturing her inside and towards the barstools in the far corner closest to the dartboards.

"It's fun to watch," Meredith says innocently, pointing towards the game going on, but Addison can't help but suffer as her mind wanders to… Other things.

' _What the hell!?' Addison imagines._

"Joe!" Meredith beckons.

"Hello, doctors," says Joe, quirking an eyebrow at these specific two women sitting next to each other, and then trying to cover it up quickly.

"Could we have two of those pizzas?" says Meredith.

"Coming right up," says Joe, as he goes to put them in the oven.

"Do you want a drink?" says Addison before she can think better of it.

"Definitely," says Meredith. "You?" she offers.

' _Yes!' Addison's mind blurts out, though she tries to contain herself._

"Sure," says Addison.

"Joe!" says Meredith, as she turns around, and reaches up to wave over to him.

As she does this, Addison is accidentally met with the sight of Meredith's shirt riding up to her back, and just the very edge of her new black lace panties becoming visible a the edge of her jeans.

Addison reddens, gulps, and tries to look away but she can't.

She's fascinated by the most sinful sights of the blonde woman, and it's causing her to need to grip onto the table.

"Do you want… What do you want?" Meredith asks her, once Joe has answered her, and she's ordering drinks for both of them.

' _You,' Addison's brain supplies unhelpfully._

"Umm-" Addison cuts out, unable to shake herself out of it on time.

"Their margaritas are actually pretty good," says Meredith.

"It's a little cold out for a margarita, don't you think?" Addison shrugs, before smiling.

"Joe! Two margaritas!" Meredith shouts before turning around back in her seat, and Addison can finally breathe again.

"So have you tried all of their drinks?" Addison spits out before she says something very much worse than that.

"Many of them," says Meredith as she passes Addison a napkin.

Their fingers brush, and Addison's hands' tingle.

She tries to ignore it.

"And what about you," Meredith asks her.

"What about me?" Addison parrots back to her.

"What are some things that you'd like to try?" Meredith asks her.

' _Oh, many, many, many things…' Addison gulps. Unhelpful!_

"Tequila?" Addison squeaks out, because it's the only thing she can think of, because she associates it with Meredith.

"It's already in the margaritas," Meredith giggles.

"Right…" Addison squirms.

"Have you ever tried a 'Tequila Sunrise?" asks Meredith. "It's tequila, and orange juice, and grenadine," she explains.

"No," says Addison.

"First time for everything," Meredith shrugs.

' _First time for EVERYTHING,' Addison's brain conjures up. Shit!_

"Right…" Addison gulps again.

Meredith's eyes lock with hers, and they nonverbally dare each other to look away.

It's intense, and it feels endless, and Meredith smirks as Addison swallows hard again.

"Good thing your margarita's here," says Meredith without breaking contact when their drinks finally arrive.

"Yeah…" Addison all but gasps.

"You look thirsty."

* * *

"So, how are you finding this whole secret Santa thing?" Meredith asks Addison casually, just making conversation.

' _Challenging. Terrifying. Giving me an existential crisis!' Addison panics._

"Fun-" Addison cuts herself off before she flies off the rails.

"Good," Meredith smiles smugly, and Addison can't quite place it.

"Yeah…" says Addison, suddenly monosyllabic as she watches the tequila and lime cocktail flow over Meredith's lips.

"You know, it's always fun to have something to look forward to," she continues, and Addison continues watching Meredith savor the salt at the rim of the glass.

"Yes…" Addison hisses as Meredith takes out the lime, and bites into it.

Her face scrunches up just a little bit, and it pulls on Addison's heartstrings just the teeniest bit.

' _Dear lord,' Addison groans at herself._

"So, you've gotten quite the array of bath products. Have you been indulging in those recently?" Meredith asks easily.

"Yup-" Addison answers quickly, sighing as she remembers wrapping herself in her new bathrobe, and feeling the silky bath oils work wonders on her skin.

"It shows," says Meredith, reaching out just slightly so she can ghost her fingertips over Addison's upper arm.

"Wha-" Addison's eyes fly wide open at Meredith actually _touching her._

"Your skin is so smooth," Meredith compliments, as she runs the pads of her hand up past Addison's bicep, before she runs them down her arm, just dusting past her hands before she retreats her hand back into her own space.

"Th-thanks," Addison stutters, before chiding herself.

The feeling of Meredith's skin on her own causes her body to heat up all over, and all of a sudden she finds the need to inhale the ice chips in her margarita.

"Watch out, it's strong," offers Meredith, pointing at the redhead's drink.

"Right-" says Addison, forcibly detaching her lips from her own glass.

"Careful, you might get drunk off of one, it's happened to me before," Meredith offers helpfully.

"Hey, do you think I'm a cheap drunk?" Addison protests.

"I don't really know?" Meredith shrugs.

' _Oh, but I want you to know all of me,' the voice inside of Addison's head offers her._

"Are you a cheap drunk?" Addison asks bruskly before she regrets it.

"Are you tryin' to get me drunk, Dr. Montgomery?" Meredith giggles.

' _Christ!' Addison sighs._

"Noooo-" she protests, accidentally revealing that she's already a little bit intoxicated.

"Don't you think you're getting a little ahead of yourself?" Meredith laughs.

"Hey-" Addison pouts.

"As I said, everyone's new at something in life," Meredith smiles.

' _This definitely is an eye-opening experience,' Addison muses._

"Ooh! The pizzas are here!" Meredith exclaims as Joe brings two trays around.

' _Oh thank goodness,' Addison murmurs quietly, even though she's somehow only slightly disappointed that the time seems to be passing more quickly than she'd anticipated._

* * *

"So you're into pineapple on pizza, huh?" says Addison, pointing towards Meredith's choice of Hawaiian.

"I'm into a lot of things," Meredith says nonchalantly.

' _Oh. My. Goodness,' Addison tries not to picture every single one of those things that Meredith is apparently into._

"And you?" Meredith asks Addison as she bites into her pizza.

"I like pepperoni…" Addison grumbles, not forfeiting any more details than that.

"But there's so much more out there!" Meredith exclaims almost… promisingly?

"Right…" Addison says skeptically.

"You gotta try some-" Meredith says, as she offers Addison a slice of her pizza.

"Just a little bit…" Addison hesitates before indulging. "Whoa, it's good!" she exclaims after.

"See? Just one taste and you can't get enough!" Meredith says in a chipper voice.

' _Just one taste…' Addison's mind thinks dangerously. This is getting harder and harder to watch._

"So, do you want to see what my secret Santa got me?" Meredith asks Addison, aware that she's hardly shown anyone any of it.

"S-sure," Addison tries not to stammer as Meredith hops off the barstool, and motions for Addison to follow her.

She follows the blonde in a daze, wondering if this is wise, wondering if she should bolt for the door, or race forward just to catch up with her.

Meredith opens the washroom door, and Addison walks behind her into it.

* * *

"See, I could never show you this in public…" Meredith says slowly, and Addison's eyes fly open as wide as saucers.

' _What now!? Is Meredith Grey just about to strip for me!? What the actual fuck!?' Addison freaks out._

"They left me this…" Meredith says, as she pulls something out of her pocket.

"Wha- oh!" Addison nods, as she recognizes the typed note she'd left Meredith on their first day of secret Santa, the one that only had the tips and tricks for Derek's surgery on it.

Meredith must have taken out the page so she didn't have to carry the whole diary around. Clever!

"So, your secret Santa must know their neuro…" Addison tries to redirect the conversation elsewhere.

"They must," says Meredith, as she folds up the note, and puts it back in her pocket.

"Nice," says Addison dumbly, as she tries not to picture Meredith Grey in those panties again.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I actually have to use the bathroom…" Meredith says awkwardly, as Addison nods, and walks out of the room.

' _What the hell was THAT!?' Addison shivers as she walks back to the barstool._

"You look like you could use some water," says Joe, looking concernedly at the slightly swaying Addison.

"Thank you, Addison says gratefully before gulping it down quickly.

"Those drinks are strong, wish I'd warned you," says Joe, as he hands her another glass of water with ice in it.

"It's alright," says Addison. "I can only have one though!" she adds.

"Of course," says Joe, as he hands her a napkin.

"Thanks, Joe," says Addison, as she wipes the pizza sauce off her lips.

And then, Addison thinks in her half-in-the-bottle stupor that this is the perfect opportunity to hide Meredith's secret Santa gift in her bag from yesterday, figuring there's enough other surgeons from Seattle Grace around that it won't be too obvious it's her.

She slides the package from her own bag into the other doctor's, and then she sits back up onto the barstool, and resumes very slowly sipping her margarita.

"You know Joe, tequila's not too bad after all," Addison babbles as she also enjoys the rim of salt at the edge of the glass.

"Sometimes it's nice to have a change," Joe nods, and Addison suddenly feels that he already knows something she doesn't already.

"Mm," Addison drops it though, turning back to eat some of the ice cubes at the bottom of the glass as she waits for the blonde to return.

"Hey there, didn't miss me too much, now did you?" Another voice appears, taking the seat where Meredith had just been sitting next to her, and Addison drunkenly glowers at him as he does so.

"Mark…" Addison says in a surprised voice.

"What, not happy to see me? I said I'd be joining you!" Mark guffaws. "Double-scotch, single malt!" Mark calls out to Joe.

"Coming right up," says the bartender, as he turns to focus back to face Addison. "Now, what did I miss?" He smirks, and Addison's mouth opens wide.

' _How could I possibly explain everything that just happened, and what didn't actually happen,' Addison wonders._

"Oh, Hey Dr. Sloan," a certain blonde appears, and Meredith simply shifts her coat and her bag to the next barstool before climbing up on it.

"Hey, I think something just fell out there, Grey," Mark offers, pointing to the secret Santa gift that the redhead had just left there.

"Ooh!" says Meredith, recognizing the wrapping paper.

"Aren't you gonna open it?" says Mark with another smirk.

"Of course!" says Meredith, as Addison's eyes fly wide open, but she knows she can't warn her without looking suspicious.

"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!" says Mark, immediately recognizing the item.

"Oh cool, it'll go great with the other one," says Meredith, as she turns over the package contentedly.

"Hey, is that a-" Joe comes over at just that moment, and looks down at the package, blushing.

"Yeah, isn't it nice?" says Meredith, holding it up for the entire bar to see, and Addison wishes she could just dissolve at this very moment, even though nobody knows that the gift was actually from her.

"Well, thank you, secret Santa," Meredith winks at Mark, probably figuring it was from him, since she received it right as her friend entered the room.

"No problem, Grey," Mark teases, and Addison tries not to glare at him for taking credit here, even though half of her feels as though she should be probably thanking him, seeing as the original plan was to fool Grey into loving someone else anyway.

' _When did this plan become about making HER smile for ME!?' Addison wonders._

* * *

"Isn't it neat!?" Meredith turns to Addison, who raises her eyes at the mention of her name.

"Yeah-" Addison tries not to choke up, but she does at least a little bit.

"Yeah, Addison would know all about that," Mark insinuates, and Addison just about wants to strangle him.

"Of course she would, every girl needs one of these, doesn't she?" Meredith laughs, as Mark licks his lips happily.

"Ah-" Addison stammers, blushing crimson, and regretting profoundly that she'd drunkenly thought that giving Meredith one of _those_ in the middle of the bar was a fantastic idea.

"Whoa, nice one!" says Cristina as she walks in just as Meredith is holding it.

"Oh, I think I have that one in pink!" says Izzie.

"Dude," says Alex, predictably.

"Wait, does that-" George says, whispering.

"It's ALL MINE!" says Meredith proudly, as she puts it back into her bag.

"Did Meredith's secret Santa actually get her a _dildo_!?" George whisper-shouts to Alex, who snickers.

"Of course," says Derek, emerging from the door right at that moment.

"Wait what?" says Preston Burke, only responding to Derek's comment.

"Are you people just gonna stand there!?" says Bailey, pushing past them frustratedly.

"What did I miss?" says Richard Webber.

"Nothing!" says absolutely everyone else.

"Well okay then," says Richard. "Hey Joe, could I get one of those mini-pizzas?"

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 5**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Mmkay, so the rating of this one went up a little bit. Hope you enjoyed!

_bobbiejelly_


	6. SIX

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**SIX**

* * *

"Well someone looks busy," George O'Malley says to Meredith Grey when he sees her sitting down in the hallway, furiously tapping on her cell phone.

"Mm," says Meredith absently, as she continues.

"Setting up dates?" George asks her blankly.

"Deleting emails," Meredith sighs.

"You have that many unread messages?" says George.

"All from last night and this morning," says Meredith. "Though honestly, I started saving some of them because they're ridiculous," she laughs.

"Hello Dr. Grey, dildo you have a good morning? From the guy in red at the bar last night, you know where to find me, XO," reads George aloud, as he blushes furiously.

"Yeah, I got like, six of those," says Meredith.

"And you're not interested?" says George.

"No," says Meredith.

"Why not?" says George.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?" Meredith furrows her brow at them.

"Hey, I'm just saying that for a little while you'd take home someone new every night. So now that you have all of these offers, well, I'm just… Never mind…" George concludes his statement wisely.

"Hey!" says Meredith.

"I'm just gonna go-" says George.

"Thanks, George," says Meredith, as she keeps laughing at the messages on her phone.

"Grey, you seem to be the most popular intern around here," says Bailey as she comes around with the assignments. "Three doctors, four nurses, and even two of the anesthesiologists requested you this morning!" Bailey says, unimpressed.

"Oh no," says Meredith.

"Shall I tell them all that you're busy working under me in the pit?" Says Bailey.

"Umm, was there a surgery involved in any of them?" Meredith asks hopefully.

"Well I don't know, what did you promise them?" Bailey sighs.

"Never mind, the pit it is," says Meredith as she resigned herself to some sutures.

When Addison sees Meredith sulking, she can't resist the temptation to bring her a cup of coffee. It's the least she can do given the way the whole hospital is looking at her.

"Thanks, Addison," says Meredith, gulping it down quickly.

' _She's so damn cute!' Addison sighs internally._

"You're welcome," says Addison timidly.

"You're not gonna ask me how my night was?" Meredith groans at her.

"What? NOOOOOO!" says Addison, blushing.

' _Oh, but all I want to know is that,' Addison holds herself back from saying._

"Well, you'd be the first one," Meredith deadpans.

"Oh, umm. No, that's not why I'm here to talk to you," says Addison, fumbling, as she tries hard not to imagine just how stellar the rest of Meredith's night had been.

' _I only want to know everything…' Addison's mind rambles._

"Oh, okay," says Meredith, smiling. "Thanks for the coffee," she says finally.

"Oh, yeah. Umm, I'm really sorry about how people are treating you," says Addison. "You don't deserve that," she says sincerely.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault," says Meredith.

"Right-" says Addison quickly, biting her lip in the process. "Still, it sucks," she says.

"It's alright, things will calm down. They did a few weeks after you showed up here-" Meredith says, and then this time she blushes at her terrible choice of comments.

"Oops-" says Addison.

"That one wasn't your fault. It was Derek's, for pretending he wasn't married," she says.

"Okay, and also mine, because if I hadn't cheated, then he wouldn't have moved, and then-" Addison starts rambling.

"That's all in the past," says Meredith.

"In the past…" says Addison, smiling.

' _She's forgiven me!' Thinks Addison._

"Well, I have some more sutures to catch up on," says Meredith, not knowing where to go with this conversation.

"Oh, right. If you want later, I can see if you can scrub in on a case I have coming in," offers Addison.

"Ooh, I don't know what Bailey will say about me being requested again," Meredith says awkwardly.

"I can assign you anyway?" offers Addison.

' _Think fast' her mind says._

"Good luck with that," Meredith smiles despite herself.

So Meredith goes on, and keeps stitching up patients, and ignoring the onslaught of weird and weirder comments she keeps getting.

"Could you all please stop torturing Dr. Grey!?" Meredith eventually hears from up above on the stairwell.

She's bellowing from where only months ago she'd been arguing with Derek, and now she's just standing up for his ex-girlfriend.

"So she's received a sex toy. Big deal!? I'm an OB-GYN, and I think it's great for her. There are lots of scientific benefits to self-love, people, and that doesn't give anyone the right to call her a whore, or to treat her like one. So please, could we get back into being actual doctors, and could we stop teasing Meredith like she has been all morning," Addison concludes her speech by putting her six-high-heeled foot down, and fearing the wrath of the raging Ruler-Of-All-That-Is-Evil, all the personnel scatter, and Addison is staring down at the lone face of Meredith Grey, who is mouthing her a 'thank you,' before getting back to work herself.

' _Well, that should tell them!' Imagines Addison._

"Hey, nice speech there, Dr. Montgomery. Do you want to tell me about all of those scientific benefits?" says Alex Karev, giggling.

"Karev," says Addison impatiently. "I would think you'd be more supportive here, and less inappropriate," Addison sighs.

"Sorry-" he says, running off like the others.

"Wow, sticking up for the enemy. What, is this some evil plot against men?" Addison turns to see her ex-husband glaring at her.

"It wasn't about you, Derek," insists Addison.

"Are you sure, because I swear that was a dig at me," Derek frowns.

"Well, it was a dig at you calling her a whore, and then trying to get back together with her," huffs Addison.

"So it was about me," huffs Derek.

"The whole world does not revolve around you," offers Addison, as she turns on her heels again.

"Addison!" says Mark. "Nice speech!" he offers.

"Oh, great," Addison groans.

"Hey, I just wanted to say it was great," Mark smirks.

"Not now, McSteamy," says Addison.

"Nice! I knew that nickname would catch on, have you been taking notes from the dirty mistress' club?" Asks Mark.

"Go away, Mark," says Addison. "I've got a surgery," she puts up her hand at him.

"Dr. Montgomery, now what on earth was that all about!?" Insists Richard Webber, as he meets her by the O.R board.

"Oh, people were bullying Meredith, sir," says Addison uncomfortably.

"Well, we can't have that," says Dr. Webber, before walking away also.

"Addison," says Preston Burke, as he checks up on the board.

"Preston," says Addison tentatively.

"Would you like an assist on your surgery today?" he offers.

"That's okay, I have Dr. Grey," she smiles.

"YOU got Grey!?" says Burke, surprised.

"This is probably a bad time to tell me you requested her also," says Addison, pointing with her eyes to Cristina.

"Oh, we are SO over," says Yang, as she scoffs at him.

"Do you want in on this surgery?" Addison offers kindly.

"Yeah, sure," says Cristina. "Better than being on Burke's service," she says dejectedly.

"See? I have all the cardio help that I need," says Addison, as she writes Cristina's name on the board next to hers and Meredith's.

The secret Santa presents seem to have taken a backseat rating compared to the hospital gossip, but after Addison's speech, everyone seems to be focusing on them again.

"New socks?" says Addison, as she sees Mark again. "They match the pants and shirt," says Mark, as he shows them off to her.

"Mine are green," Derek adds. "Oh, nice," says Addison. "They match the grass outside the trailer," she adds, then quirks at her own odd comment.

"Thanks…" says Derek, as they both turn the corner.

"Have fun with Grey today," Mark smirks at Addison as he says goodbye.

"Whoa- what!?" says Addison.

"You have surgery with her, right?" Mark smirks.

"Oh, right," says Addison, relieved.

Mark laughs a full-bellied laugh as he walks away.

' _Oh, it's just Mark,' Addison huffs to herself._

"If anyone slips Dr. Grey suggestive notes again, I'm going to mow them all down with my vacuum extender-arm!" Says Bailey, as she picks them up off the floor.

"Thanks," says Meredith.

"No problem, this appears to be yours, though," says Bailey, as she hands Meredith a wrapped gift.

"Thanks," says Meredith, as she runs off to the bathroom and locks the door this time to open it.

(She's incredibly glad that she did).

Addison pages her to surgery not long after that, and she and Cristina enjoy hanging out, while Addison just teaches them both and pretends that nothing strange is going on after all.

"What did your secret Santa give you this time?" asks Meredith to Cristina.

"A fidget tangle," says Cristina.

"Do you fidget that much?" asks Meredith.

"Not necessarily, but I like collecting things," says Cristina.

"True," says Meredith.

The surgery is over soon enough, and it pains Addison to leave Meredith's company.

"Do ah, do you want to maybe… Do something after work again… This evening…?" Addison asks Meredith lamely.

"I mean, if you don't want to I get it, last night was sort of a disaster, and you probably have other friends, so never mind…. I'm gonna go…" Addison moves to run away before Meredith outright rejects her.

' _She's gonna run away because I sound like I'm the mad hatter,' thinks Addison._

"I'd love to," says Meredith. "You can fight off the boys for me with your speeches!" Meredith chirps, as she decides that Addison will be her bodyguard.

"Yeah, and she can knock them down with her shoes," says Cristina, laughing. "I'll just chuck these toys like grenades at them if I have to," says Cristina.

"Done!" says Meredith. "Now I wonder if he makes deluxe pizzas…" Meredith muses.

"Watch out!" says Izzie, but it's too late, and Cristina has knocked over her tower of stuffed toys.

"Is that a gorilla?" says Meredith.

"Yeah!" says Izzie.

"I swear those things are starting to give me nightmares," says Cristina.

"Hey, they're harmless," Izzie says as she pats her plushes on the heads.

"Okay, if you want to come to the bar tonight we can throw them at any haters also," offers Cristina.

"Definitely," says Izzie.

"Want to make this a girl's night?" says Meredith.

"Sure, why not," says Cristina.

"Are you in, Addison?" Asks Meredith.

"Yeah, I'm in," says Addison, fervently wanting as much time with the blonde as possible.

' _Okay, when did I start to want to avoid propositions from men so I could go hand out with women!?' Addison panics._

It all works out though, because Derek offers for all the boys to go camping with him out on his land, including Richard and Burke, who each got a new coat today, so the girls end up planning to skip Joe's entirely, and to have a sleepover at Meredith's house.

"Ooh, you gotta bring your secret Santa gift and open it with us!" says Izzie to Addison.

"Okay…" says Addison, as she opens the bottle, assuming initially that it was going to be alcohol. "Hmm... " says Addison, not instantly reognizing it.

"Oh, that smells nice," says Cristina.

"Yeah, it does," says Izzie.

"It says…" Meredith reads, and turns Addison's hand so she can read the rest, and Addison automatically shivers.

"Massage oil," she reads, and Addison goes red as a beet.

"Perfect, we'll bring it to our sleepover, you're alright sharing, right?" says Cristina.

"Uhh-" Addison flushes.

"It'll be nice, we can do footrubs," says Meredith, and Addison nods and releases the breath she'd been holding when she didn't know exactly what everyone had in mind with the massage oil.

"Do you want to see my gift?" says Meredith, as she opens her purse.

Addison gulps, and prepares as she sees Meredith share this with her friends.

"No telling the boys though," Meredith makes them promise.

"Never!" says Izzie.

"Nope," says Cristina.

"It looks like a lipstick!" says Meredith, as she switches on the very clever-looking vibrator.

"Now _that_ is a thoughtful secret Santa present," says Izzie.

"Does that match the dildo?" asks Cristina.

"I think they'd work great together," says Meredith, and Addison coughs to contain a gasp at the imagery.

"You okay, Addison?" asks Cristina.

"Yeah, are you choking?" asks Izzie.

"Oh, got a lump in my throat, that's all," says Addison, as she reaches for some water.

"Maybe Addison even has tips for us. She's an OB-GYN, so she's an expert, right?" says Meredith offhandedly, and Addison starts 'choking' again.

"There, there," says Meredith, patting Addison on the back, as Addison tries her very best to recover here.

"Doesn't make me an expert," says Addison, as she catches her breath.

"Awe, she's shy," says Izzie.

"Or maybe she's really that naive," Cristina teases.

"Oh, shush," says Meredith. "She doesn't have to talk about it if she doesn't want to, right?" offers Meredith.

"Thanks-" Addison barely gets out as she recovers from coughing.

"Cool, there's plenty of other gossip anyway," says Cristina.

"Yeah, like you being over with Burke?" says Izzie.

"Oh yeah, that was like roadkill," says Cristina.

"Hey, you really dodged a bullet with that one, I think," says Meredith.

"Sorry it didn't work out," offers Addison empathetically.

"You gonna give me a footrub to make up for it?" Cristina teases.

"Here, I will," offers Izzie. "Sit back on the chair," she says, and Cristina does.

"Umm, do you want me to-" Addison points to Meredith's feet.

"I'm not going to make you, but if you're offering," says Meredith, as she sits up on the chair.

"Here," says Addison, her body reacting to its own accord, optimizing any chance that she has of touching the blonde.

"That feels nice," says Cristina, as Izzie massages the soles of her feet.

"Yeah, ooh," says Meredith, as Addison uses some of the massage oil to soothe over the arches of Meredith's feet. "Please don't stop," Meredith whimpers, and it lights a fire in Addison to keep going and going, her core heating up every time a little noise escapes from Meredith's mouth.

' _This is just friendly!' Addison rationalizes to herself in her mind. 'There's nothing going on here,' she fathoms. 'Just a girls night,' she tries to keep thinking (denying) to herself._

"You want to switch?" offers Cristina.

"Sure," says Izzie, as she sits up on the couch.

"Here," says Meredith. "Your turn," she offers Addison.

And Addison nods dumbly as she hops onto the couch.

"Tell me where it hurts?" says Meredith, as she reaches out to touch Addison's feet.

' _Oh dear, don't think about her saying that in bed. Don't think about her saying that in bed. Don't think about it-' thinks Addison._

"Ooh, right there-" Addison all but moans when Meredith hits her sore spots.

"Good girl," says Meredith, smiling.

' _Oh, don't think about her saying THAT in bed,' Addison freaks out internally._

"Thanks for letting us borrow your gift," says Cristina, yawning.

"Yeah," says Izzie.

"Oh, no problem…" Addison says nonchalantly, between moaning despite herself at Meredith's massaging.

"Yeah, I guess she's not THAT evil," Meredith laughs.

' _And even Satan can be redeemed,' Addison thinks as she finally lets herself relax for a second._

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 6**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Hello folks!

So, it appears that I do owe some people some one-shots for those of you who guessed 'vibrator,' ages ago before December 29 2020.

Let me know who you are and what you want, I'll try to tick these 100-word prompts off next!

Any guesses for the next round of gifts? :)

_bobbiejelly_


	7. SEVEN

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**S** **EVEN**

* * *

"Are you enjoying yourself?" Meredith Grey asks Addison Montgomery, as she continues to rub her sore feet.

"Yes…" Addison Montgomery purrs in delight before she can contain herself.

"I'm glad," Meredith smiles, and Addison nods, her breath caught in her throat.

"See, I knew this girl's night was going to be a great idea!" says Cristina.

"It wasn't even your idea!" Izzie teases.

"It IS a great idea, don't you think so?" Meredith asks Addison.

"Mmhmm-" Addison nods as Meredith continues to work on her feet.

The sensation of Meredith's delicate fingers over her bare skin sends shivers down Addison's spine, and she shifts with them, and Meredith asks her about it.

"Are you cold?" The blonde says in a concerned tone.

"N-no, I'm good…" says Addison, as she curses internally for stuttering.

' _Why am I so nervous I can barely breathe!?' wonders Addison._

"We can get blankets," she offers, and Addison sighs when Meredith stops rubbing her feet so she can go grab a quilt, and fold it over her shoulders.

"Thanks," Addison whimpers as the covers envelop her.

"You're welcome," says Meredith, as she resumes massaging Addison.

"Ohh-" Addison can't stop herself from moaning when Meredith reaches a good spot.

"No wonder your feet are a wreck, you wear those seventeen-inch-heels all day," Meredith laughs.

' _She notices me!' Addison can't help but feel her stomach flip at Meredith's words._

"Do you want me to do your calves as well?" Meredith inquires.

' _Whoa wait what- I think I missed a few words there!?' Addison gasps._

"What?" says Addison, confused.

"Your calves, do you want me to massage them as well?" Asks Meredith.

"Oh, yeah, that sounds really nice," says Addison.

' _Really REALLY nice,' thinks Addison in her head._

"Oh, fuck, that's good," Addison swears when Meredith works out her sore muscles.

"I'll take that as a good sign," Meredith chuckles as she works on Addison's other leg.

"That's fantastic," Addison whimpers, and she swears she can hear Meredith humming in approval.

"You really need it, huh," Meredith smiles, and Addison only groans in approval.

' _Yeah, and I really need something else as well… Wait what!?' Addison's mind keeps on rumbling._

"I'm glad I can help make you feel better," Meredith says gently.

"You're too good at that," Addison whimpers, as she closes her eyes again.

" _If she's good at that, then I bet-' Addison keeps having thought spirals._

"You're too good for me ego, Dr. Montgomery," Meredith smirks.

Off of Meredith's devious expression, Addison's eyes flicker open again, and she takes in the hungry expression on the intern's face, and she licks her lips subconsciously.

"You can call me Addison," the redhead says, breathlessly.

"Alright, Addison," Meredith enunciates her name exaggeratedly. "Are you going to return the favor, huh?" Meredith quirks.

' _Oh, I could do this all night long,' Addison's brain supplies unhelpfully._

"Of course…" Addison offers nervously, switching places with the blonde again.

Meredith's eyes never leave her own, as Addison rolls up her sleeves, applies a little more of the massage oil on her hands, and skims her hands over Meredith's feet, then ankles, then calves.

"I'm not gonna break y'know, you can go a little harder," Meredith giggles, and Addison blushes.

' _Holy hell!' Addison pants._

"Right-" Addison applies even more pressure onto Meredith's legs, until she can hear Meredith purring for her.

" _Okay, now THAT is the most erotic sound I have ever heard…' Addison thinks, before her thoughts catch up to her with a 'whoa, what now!?'_

"Quit teasing," Meredith practically growls, as she puts her own hands over Addison's to help her move to where she needs the pressure the most.

' _Her hands on my hands, her hands on my hands, her hands on-' Addison's brain is fried._

"Yes, Meredith," Addison mocks, and Meredith smirks back at her.

' _Oh. Now THAT is how this is gonna go, huh,' Addison understands._

"You've got nice hands," Meredith compliments flatly.

"You've got nice legs," Addison blurts out before she reddens to a complete shade of crimson.

"Thanks," Meredith smirks even wider.

"You're welcome," Addison's voice subconsciously lowers.

' _This is getting far too dangerous.'_

* * *

The trance is, unfortunately (or, fortunately?), broken by Izzie's need for more snacks.

"Do you have s'mores Ben & Jerry's?" asks Cristina.

"In the freezer!" responds Meredith, knowing that it's her best friend's favorite.

"Get spoons!" says Izzie.

"And napkins!" says Meredith.

"Picky!" says Cristina.

"Do you like ice cream?" asks Meredith to Addison.

"What?" says Addison, still focusing on the sensations of Meredith's muscles under her hands.

"Ice cream?" the blonde simplifies.

"Oh, right. Yeah. Ice cream is nice," offers Addison.

"S'more's?" asks Meredith.

"That's the best kind!" says Addison.

"You're in good company then," offers Meredith.

' _Of course, I am.'_

Cristina hands Izzie a mini tub of ice cream, and hands one to Meredith, and then keeps one for herself.

"What, there were only three," Cristina shrugs.

"What, and you're not gonna offer one to our guest," she points at Addison.

"Hey, I'm a guest, I don't live here," says Cristina.

"Only like, most of the time," Meredith rolls her eyes at Cristina.

"It's okay," says Addison.

"Nah, Cristina's being rude, so I guess I'll have to share," Meredith offers Addison a spoon and a napkin.

"Oh, you don't have to…" Addison gulps at the prospect of sharing food with the blonde.

"Here, have some, it's your favorite. It's good!" says Meredith, digging in, and pointing for Addison to do the same.

"Okay, just a little bit," says Addison, as she sinks her spoon into the ice cream. "It is good," she agrees.

"Alright are we going to watch a movie or what?" says Izzie.

"We already watched 'Elf,' twice, and if I live here, then I get a veto," says Cristina.

"Okay, how about 'Home Alone,' then, offers Meredith.

"I've never seen it,' says Addison honestly.

"WHAAAAAT?" Meredith, Izzie, and Cristina exclaim together.

"I grew up in Connecticut, and we never watched movies," Addison shrugs.

"You must have missed out," offers Meredith.

"Or you're just a hermit," says Cristina.

"Wait, do you miss all the cultural references?" says Izzie.

"Actually I used to watch movies at Mark's after Derek and I broke up," Addison answers, and then facepalms at having brought up her and Meredith's ex in this situation.

"But not 'Home Alone,' Meredith picks it up and doesn't comment any further, much to the relief of Addison.

"Nope," Addison answers.

"You were so deprived, and I guess I'm glad that we're fixing that now," Meredith shrugs as she puts in the movie.

_Deprived, indeed._

All of them squish back onto the couch to watch it while eating the ice cream, until Cristina wants to lay down, so she ends up kicking Izzie, who ends up kicking Meredith, who ends up knowing Addison off of the couch.

"Animals," Meredith chides them jokingly.

Addison is about to get up, when she feels Meredith's fingers weave absently through her hair, so she stays put, and leans back into the gentle contact.

"I always wondered if your hair was as soft as it looked," Meredith wonders aloud.

"And is it?" asks Izzie.

"Or is it full of thorns?" asks Cristina mockingly.

"Hey!" says Addison.

"It's really soft," says Meredith, still running her hands through it, and it feels so heavenly that Addison nuzzles back into Meredith's lap until she falls asleep that way.

"Are you going to wake her?" asks Cristina, pointing to the sleeping redhead.

"Are you?" says Izzie.

"Nah, let her sleep, she's tired," says Meredith, as she keeps patting Addison's head.

When Addison wakes up she's in an unfamiliar place, in an unfamiliar room, and she's reaching out absently for the blonde who somehow isn't still next to her, and she wonders to herself why this is upsetting her so much.

' _Whoa, my feet and my calves feel awesome,' is the last thing that Addison thinks before she falls back asleep amongst the unfamiliar surroundings, yet again._

* * *

When it's light out, Meredith Grey gets up, and gets ready, and heads in for a shower before she decides to check on her still-seeping guest.

"Addison?" Meredith gently nudges the redhead.

"Dr. Montgomery?" she tries, tenderly stroking her hair again.

"Mmmmfff," Addison grumbles and rolls over.

"I think you have work," offers Meredith.

"Mmmmmmmmfffffffffff," Addison reaches absently around the room.

"Looking for your glasses?" asks Meredith, finding them on the nightstand and handing them to her.

"Mmhmm," Addison agrees, fumbling around for them blindly.

"Here," Meredith kneels at the bedside to give them to her.

"Thanks," is the first coherent word Addison mumbles before putting them on, and finally rolling over, and blinking her eyes open.

"Sleep well?" asks Meredith, giggling because she seems to already know the answer.

"Mm, where am I?" asks Addison.

"You're in George's room, he's out camping," explains Meredith.

"Oh," says Addison, finally understanding. "What time is it?" she asks.

"Time for you to get to work," Meredith laughs, as she offers Addison a towel. "You can shower now, it's free," she offers, as Addison nods again.

Addison takes in the view of Meredith, hair still dripping, no makeup, in just casual jeans and a T-shirt. She looks so stunning that Addison's jaw drops open before she consciously closes it.

"Oh, I can loan you some clothes, you might not have packed any," Meredith offers.

"I'm tall, though," Addison says blankly.

"That's okay, these are a bit big for me," Meredith hands her an assortment of things, including black panties that Addison has never seen before, and it causes her to heat up all over again.

"Do you want coffee?" Meredith asks.

"God, yes please," says Addison lowly, before she picks up everything and heads over to the shower.

"We're leaving in twenty," says Meredith before she heads off again.

"Okay," says Addison, content with how natural this feels.

Addison tests out all the different shampoo bottles before she finds one she likes, and she washes her hair and dries off and gets quickly.

"Here, coffee," Meredith offers, and Addison takes the mug appreciatively.

"Thanks for having me over," Addison says, suddenly a bit shy.

"No problem, glad you enjoyed yourself," says Meredith easily.

' _Oh I certainly did…' Addison's libido suddenly rages._

"Yeah-" Addison agrees.

"Yo, you ready to go!?" Cristina calls them.

"Yeah, we're already in the car!" says Izzie.

"That's my cue," says Meredith, as she runs to catch up with her friends. "Do you need a ride, or?" Meredith asks her.

"Oh, umm, I drove, but umm, thank you-" Addison fumbles.

"Well, come on then," says Meredith.

"Right," says Addison, before realizing she's left her secret Santa gift for Meredith for today home at her hotel room, and that she'll have to go back to get it at lunch time.

Meredith locks the door behind them as they all head over to the hospital, with the interns arriving first because Addison doesn't know her way from here as well.

"Where's Dr. Montgomery?" asks Bailey, as she hands out the assignments.

"She's on her way," Meredith reassures her.

"Good," says Bailey, as she sends everyone off to their respective patients.

Addison arrives a perfect fifteen seconds later, rushing in while still putting on her lab coat.

"Montgomery, if you were still an intern, I'd kick your ass!" says Bailey.

"Sorry-" Addison mumbles as she ties her hair up.

"Your hair looks really nice though," Bailey softens, and Addison nods to thank her.

"Hey, Addie," Derek smiles at her as she walks through the door.

"Hey," Addison is so refreshed she doesn't even protest her ex-husband's nickname.

"Hey there," says Mark. "Nice hairdo," he adds.

"Wait," says Derek, "I think you've got your coat stuck on your shirt," says Derek, as he fixes it.

"Did you ever go to Dartmouth?" asks Preston Burke, as he points to her shirt pocket.

"Gift from a friend," Addison mumbles, somehow feeling the need to lie about this one.

"Didn't Meredith go to Dartmouth?" Richard Webber materializes.

"Yeah," says Mark.

"Hey, Addison," Derek smiles at her again, and Addison finds it suspicious.

"Yeah?" Addison stops, just as she wants to flee at the same time.

"Do you smell like lavender? It's really lovely."

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 7**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

So far there have been 4 lucky guessers of this secret Santa game, and there are four new 100-word meddsion one-shots up so far! Keep those guesses coming, and for every correct guess I'll do a little ficlet drabble :). Cheers!

bobbiejelly


	8. EIGHT

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**EIGHT**

* * *

All day long, Addison Montgomery seems to be getting compliments on her hair.

"Looks great," her patient says to her.

"Thanks," says Addison.

"What kind of conditioner do you use? I'll have to try some," the patient admires.

"Oh, I have no idea…" Fumbles Addison.

"You don't _know_ , you have this perfect hair and you have no idea how!?" Exclaims her patient.

"No…" Addison says awkwardly, blushing as she remembers selecting hair products from Meredith's shower, and choosing the ones that smelled the best to her at the time.

"It smells like… Lavender…" her patient offers.

"Yeah…" says Addison. "It does."

Addison half wants to ask Meredith what kind of conditioner she has, but then, she sort of feels embarrassed about it.

And she also feels completely out of her body whenever she's around the blonde, she instead, she avoids Meredith becaus she's avoiding the flip-floppy feeling that seems to be afflicting her.

"Dr. Montgomery," Meredith says to her as she turns a corner.

"Dr. Grey…" Addison says quickly as she click-clacks her heels faster to get away.

"Are you busy?" asks Meredith.

"Yes, I'm ah- very busy," says Addison as she scampers off again.

Whew!

' _Oh, no. One ten-second encounter and I can hardly think straight!' Addison sighs._

* * *

It works for a while, until Bailey assigns Grey to her service.

"Do I have to!?" Pleads Addison.

"Hey, just because you and Derek had problems that don't mean you get to not teach one of my residents," Bailey huffs as she hands her the clipboard.

_Maybe this was never about Derek, after all._

"Alright…" Addison says reluctantly.

"What, is she giving you trouble?" asks Bailey.

' _More like a crisis of consciousness,' Addison fidgets._

"Nothing I can explain, really…" Addison shrugs.

"Well then get over yourself. Besides, the first day here, didn't you formally request her?" says Bailey.

"I guess…" says Addison, suddenly remembering Meredith's wispy hair and nervous smile the first time they worked together at the hospital.

_Those were the days before the whole universe went sideways._

"You'll be fine, Addison. You're tough, and besides, she's here," says Bailey, walking away to leave Addison alone with Meredith Grey.

"Hi," says Meredith in a neutral voice.

"Hi-" says Addison awkwardly.

"Are you alright?" asks Meredith when she sees Addison fidgeting.

"Yeah-" says Addison nervously.

"Okay…" says Meredith, unconvinced. "Your hair looks great by the way," she adds.

"Thanks," says Addison, running her fingers through it, also tensely.

"Could I feel it?" Meredith asks her.

_What._

* * *

"My hair?" asks Addison.

"Yeah," says Meredith. "It looks soft," she shrugs.

"I guess…" says Addison, not wanting to show how hard she's reddening.

' _Now all I can think about is her hands through my hair. Stop it!' Thinks Addison._

Meredith reaches up on her tip-toes to be able to reach, and she fluffs over Addison's hair, and runs her fingers through it.

"Yeah, really soft," says Meredith.

"Thanks," Addison speaks, only it comes out as more of a moan.

The feeling of Meredith's hands so close to her again gives her goosebumps, and Addison can't handle how nice it makes her feel.

"We've got patients to see," Addison stands up abruptly, and moves Meredith's hands away from her head.

' _Gosh, even the feeling of her wrists on my hands drives me wild,' thinks Addison._

"Alright," Meredith smiles anyway, and follows her to the patient room.

* * *

"Hello, this is Dr. Grey, she'll be working with us today," Addison announces, before she has Meredith present the case.

"You know, you have great hair also!" says the patient, who explains that she'd already complimented Addison on her hair.

"Thanks," says the blonde.

"Now, do you have any recommendations for hair products? Because it seems as though you two have the secret," asks the patient.

"Oh," says Meredith, blushing sweetly, and this expression causes Addison to heat up all over.

"Is it a secret?" The patient leans in.

"Oh, no, not at all," says Meredith. "It must be my conditioner, it's lavender…" Meredith pulls out a pen to write it down for the patient.

"It sure makes your hair look soft," says the patient.

"It makes your hair feel soft too, I mean, you've got to feel Dr. Montgomery's," Meredith motions.

At the revelation that she'd been using Meredith's own shampoo and conditioner that morning, Addison's breath catches, and her eyebrows nearly rise to the ceiling.

"Well that would explain it," says the patient, chuckling. "Thanks for the advice," she adds.

* * *

"Well hello there," the patient's husband comes in, and introduces himself.

"Don't the doctors have such lovely hair? They were just telling me about the hair products they use. Isn't that nice?" says the patient.

"Wow, I didn't know our doctor showered together," the husband deadpans, before he notices that he'd said that part aloud, instead of only inside of his head.

At the thought of _showering with Meredith Grey,_ Addison's pupils widen to the point of exploding, she audibly gasps, and her palms begin to sweat.

' _Meredith's hands all over me… Naked… While I'm naked… Oh my God,' Addison gulps, as she tries to stop visualizing this, and get back to the medicine._

"Cute, we weren't showering together, she just borrowed my conditioner this morning," Meredith giggles.

' _Oh, and Meredith giggling. Add that to the fantasy. Meredith giggling while I soap up her hair, and then I-' Addison's hyperactive imagination continues to run its course._

"Sorry, I didn't mean to assume…" Apologizes the husband.

"It's okay," says Meredith.

"Does this happen all the time?" asks the patient.

"Well, no," Addison reacts.

"But it's pretty funny when it does,' Meredith softens.

"I'm going to get myself some coffee. Would you like anything?" asks the husband. "I'll bring you some coffee," he mutters, as he walks himself out.

"I'm sorry about that," says the patient. "He probably didn't mean to pry into your private lives," she offers.

"It's okay, people can say all sorts of things when their wife is having a baby," says Addison.

"It's not like we're not all adults who've never shared showers before," Meredith shrugs as she looks up the chart again.

_If the blonde had been looking up, she might have noticed how the skin on Addison's lips was on the verge of cracking from how hard she was biting it tensely._

* * *

The moment the consultation is done in the morning, Addison takes off for her hotel so she can get her secret Santa gift ready, and the entire drive all she can think about is Meredith.

Meredith's hair, and how soft and blonde it is.

Meredith's fingers, and how delicate they are.

Meredith's pretty features.

Meredith when she stands on tip-toes.

Meredith's bright blue eyes…

Addison tries to shake it, but each time she just comes up with a new little piece of her to obsess over.

"What the hell is wrong with me!?" Addison yells inside of her car to absolutely nobody in particular.

And of course, since she's alone, no one gives her any solutions, either.

* * *

"I've got surgery in ten minutes with Dr. Montgomery, and nobody has seen Dr. Montgomery all afternoon. Huh," says Meredith to Cristina, who is trying to solve a puzzle on her 3-D plastic maze she'd gotten this morning.

"You know, you never used to set a timer on your phone to count down until McDreamy's surgeries," says Cristina, as she brags about the cardiac procedure she's going to try, because she's finally on speaking terms with Burke again.

"This one's important," Meredith says. "It's a surgery on an unborn baby, how cool is that?" She muses.

"Hey, maybe you just have a thing for Dr. Shepherd's," teases Cristina.

"Hey, she's divorced," says Meredith.

"Even better," says Cristina. "Unless you have a passion for being a homewrecker," she teases again.

"Hey, that was an accident!" says Meredith. "Okay, well, the second time wasn't but the first time was," she concedes.

"Growing less and less of a conscience, that's the way the world works these days," Cristina teases.

"Oh, got to go! Montgomery's paging me," Meredith runs off.

"Oh, I just know there's something up here that you're not telling me," says Cristina as she checks her own pager.

* * *

Addison has decided she's going to have other interns scrub in to watch as a buffer between her and Meredith because she can't spend the entire time teaching Meredith without thinking sinful things about her.

It's a management strategy, really.

"Alright, Dr. Stevens, would you mind opening?" asks Addison.

"Sure," says Izzie, as she makes the first incision.

Addison can't help but notice the disappointed look on Meredith's face, probably because she'd let her open the last time.

"Alright, Dr. Karev, would you mind telling me what you see here?" Addison asks, and Alex answers.

Next Addison has George hold a clamp for her as she completes the procedure, and all is luckily going well.

"Well, thank you very much doctors," says Addison, proud of them.

She hears the blonde clear her throat behind her though, and seeing her blue eyes go wide and shiny, Addison realizes she cannot bear to give the girl nothing when she'd worked so hard for this one.

"Alright, Dr. Grey, would you like to close?" Addison offers.

"Yes, please," says Meredith politely, as she moves to take over.

As they switch positions, Meredith's back brushes against Addison's, and Addison can just feel the blonde's heat radiating off her body into her own.

"Alright, good work Dr. Grey, I trust you to finish up here," Addison moves to scrub out, as she goes to move away but can't help but keep staring at the blonde.

The entire time she washes her hands for nearly ten minutes just watching Meredith Grey's simple stitches, awestruck by her look of concentration.

"You're going to get blisters if you keep doing that," says Mark, as he walks into the O.R to prepare for his next surgery.

"Huh?" says Addison, not even registering him the first time.

"Whipped," says Mark teasingly, as he heads off again.

But Addison doesn't even hear him.

* * *

Once they're all out of surgery though, Mark and Derek motion for her to join them at their table, and so Addison joins them.

"Well don't you both look dashing," says Addison, as she points to their new neckties.

"Yeah, someone has great taste in clothes," says Mark, as he points to his new purple tie.

"Yeah, we were wondering something," says Derek, as he shows her his new navy necktie.

"Uh-huh," asks Addison, suddenly terrified at what their question could be.

' _Please for the love of god do not ask about Meredith,' Addison shivers._

"We were wondering if you are either of our secret Santa? Because who else would know all our clothing sizes?" says Derek.

"Hey, I'm not going to answer that, that's the whole point of secret Santa, it's SECRET," Addison says defensively.

"It was worth a shot," says Mark, shrugging.

"Good luck," Addison chuckles, as she leaves their table.

Addison then tries very hard to ignore Mark's whispering to Derek as she walks away from them.

* * *

"So now you have a stuffed kitten too," says Meredith, as Izzie lays them each out on a chair at their cafeteria table.

"Yup," says Izzie.

"Yo, check this out," says Alex as he shows off his new bouncy ball.

"Wow, that thing goes far," says George, as he pulls out his new mini-board game.

"Better watch out with that, Bailey's got a new broom today," offers Richard Webber, as he comes over to show off his new mug that says "I'm the Chief, here's my IV coffee," which he adores.

"Oh no, did Burke get a toy water gun!?" Meredith exclaims as she sees him tearing through the cafeteria.

"Scatter!" says Cristina, warning them, and they all disperse well out of the line of 'fire,'.

* * *

When Addison heads to her office, she finds a package by the door with her name on it, and this time she's surprised she doesn't see any specific bath products.

This time, it's a single candle, in a mauve shade, in a glass holder.

"Huh," says Addison. "It would probably be really relaxing in the bath though," she imagines, as she plans to avail of it that evening.

After her girl's night and all the conundrums that entailed, Addison intended to have an uninterrupted night of pure relaxation.

* * *

Meredith, on the other hand, opens her locked diary to see that another entry has been posted.

"For you, with love," reads the typed note, obviously inserted so that she can't figure out the gift-giver by their own handwriting.

And Meredith smirks when out falls a gift-card to the local 'intimate items,' gift shop.

"Well this could get exciting," says Meredith, as she plans her own private shopping trip.

* * *

When Addison gets home, she has dinner, and then she strips down for a bath, and arranges all her new bath products, and as she gets in she lights her new candle.

As it turns out, it's scented, and the sensations drives her to a new level of wild.

"Oh," Addison allows herself to moan aloud at this because she's alone.

It smells exactly like Meredith's shampoo, Meredith's conditioner, just like _Meredith_ , because it must be the same brand that makes the scented candle.

And all alone, in the privacy of her hotel room, Addison finally lets herself go, and imagines what Meredith might be up to now, between her new toys, and everything she could possibly buy with her gift card.

And right there in the bathtub, both sinfully, and simultaneously, and luxuriously, Addison Montgomery moves her hands downwards.

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 8**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Happy New Year!

bobbiejelly


	9. NINE

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**NINE**

* * *

Addison slept well last night, a rarity for her in these recent times.

These days, she's often kept up late at night with her own philosophical questions, like 'what does it mean when I dream of kissing a woman!?' or 'why am I sticky?'

After her bath with the lavender-scented candles though, Addison was finally able to offer herself some (temporary?) relief from this madness, and she slept through the night all the way until morning.

"Good morning Derek, good morning Mark!" Addison waltzes in with an entire tray of coffees.

"Well someone had a good night last night," Mark smirks at her, and Addison is so happy that she just brushes him off.

"Good morning Izzie, good morning Alex, good morning Cristina," says Addison as she hands them each a mug.

The interns blink at her several times before they take their respective coffees, thank her, and run off muttering that the 'wicked witch of the east has been tamed,' by some strange force of the universe, and they definitely don't want to jinx it.

"Good morning Richard, good morning Burke," Addison offers a coffee to them too.

"Do you have a mocha latte for me?" Miranda Bailey materializes behind her.

"Sure do," says Addison, handing her a cup also.

* * *

"Well, good morning sunshine," remarks a certain blonde intern. "Rumor has it that Satan's grown angel wings, I had to come by to see it myself," says Meredith Grey.

"Coffee?" Addison offers, suddenly nervous.

"Yes please," Meredith accepts politely, holding out her hand for the redhead to place a cup in it.

"I didn't know if you liked sugar, or…" Addison says nervously, her hand uncharacteristically shaking a little.

"This is perfect," Meredith smiles, and Addison smiles back reflexively.

"Great," says Addison, starstruck.

"Thank you," says Meredith, meeting her gaze.

Addison watches as Meredith's eyes dazzle blue-green, and her jaw is still open for a moment as she tries to scramble to keep up the conversation, not wanting to end it just yet.

"Did you have a good evening?" Addison asks her, before realizing what she might be getting herself into.

"Fantastic," says Meredith. "I did a little shopping," she says wickedly, with a glint in her eye.

_Shopping. With THAT gift card. For THOSE things. For THAT…_

Addison gulps, as she nods along with Meredith, still grinning, and her hands still a little bit shaking.

"Did you have a good evening, Dr. Montgomery?" Meredith quirks an eyebrow at her.

_As if she KNOWS._

"Yes…" Addison practically purrs.

"I'm glad," Meredith smirks at her, and then she even winks quickly.

_What if she does KNOW!?_

"Thanks…" Addison says, her mind in the gutter already, so her voice comes out low and husky.

"No problem…" says Meredith, turning on her heels and walking away again, swaying her hips on purpose for Addison to watch her.

And does Addison ever watch her, her mouth gone dry despite the coffee, just seeing how Meredith's hair flows over her delicate shoulders.

"Dr. Montgomery," another voice calls for her, and Addison nearly gives herself whiplash looking behind her.

"Yes?" Addison questions flatly.

"Are you ready for today's procedure?" Bailey asks her, and Addison remembers she's working with her today.

"Yes," says Addison simply. "I'll be right up," says the redhead, scrambling to get her things together.

"You better not be distracted," Bailey laughs, as she moves to prepare herself.

* * *

This time, Addison is visibly disappointed that Dr. Grey is not on her service today, and she's not doing a great job at hiding it, either.

"You don't see something you like, do you," Mark comes up behind her.

"It's fine," Addison huffs in annoyance.

'But you'd rather have Grey, wouldn't you," Mark calls her out on her bluff.

"It's complicated," huffs Addison, before brushing past him. "Also, nice new cardigan, by the way. See, this time it's nearly identical to Derek's," she says.

_Of course, when it comes to anything involved with Meredith Grey, it's incredibly complicated._

The surgery isn't complicated though, and it passes by quickly, and it gives Addison the chance to stash her secret Santa gift before lunchtime.

A whole bunch of the interns have gotten their gifts at the same time, and they sit on the downstairs benches to open them.

"Ooh, a stuffed porcupine!" says Izzie.

"Isn't that spiky?" says Cristina, holding out a new fidget cube.

"Now THAT is spiky," Izze points to George's sensory spike fish set.

"Hey, these are great for working the knots out of my hands," George says at his friends poking fun at him.

"Oy, Alex, is that a Christmas ornament?" asks Cristina.

"Yeah," says Alex. "And it's shaped like a syringe," Alex laughs.

"OMG!" says Meredith, as she walks into the room.

"Yo, Mer, what did you get?" asks Alex.

"You wouldn't wanna know," Meredith says coyly.

"Oh, come on," says George.

"You definitely wouldn't wanna know," giggles Meredith.

"Well it can't be as embarrassing as your gift at the bar," offers Cristina.

"Well…" says Meredith, blushing.

"What the hell is it!?" says Izzie.

"I'm not telling you!" says Meredith, as she skips off happily.

"I bet she's just kidding," says George.

"I don't think she's kidding," offers Cristina.

"Who's kidding?" Burke enters the hallway, motioning for a few of the interns to follow him.

"No one," says Izzie, as she poked at Burke's new yoyo.

"Hey, don't touch the yoyo," says Burke, as he moves it up and down again, and tries to do tricks with it.

* * *

"Richard, you seem a bit jittery?" says Bailey, as she begins the surgery.

"Must have had too much coffee," he says. "I got some from secret Santa this morning to go with my mug yesterday, and after Addison's, it must have been too many," Richard says.

"Well don't go knocking things down in the O.R," says Bailey. "Or I'll have to wipe it up with my new wet jet mop," she says.

"Your house must be so clean," offers Addison.

"Hey, I have a very young son, you ain't seen clean at my house since he was in my womb," laughs Bailey.

"Well, your secret Santa sure knows what you like," offers Richard.

"True," says Bailey. "What about you, have your secret Santa's figured you out yet?" asks Bailey.

"Yeah, pretty well," offers Richard.

' _Like you wouldn't believe,' thinks Addison, idly._

"Yes…" Addison grumbles, but she's smiling beneath her fake-frown.

"Well I'm glad this game is bringing us all closer together," says Richard.

"Yeah, it's nice to have something else to gossip about, other than all these bizarre love triangle-square-pentagon love problems," says Bailey.

' _Well, not so sure about that last one,' Addison bites her lip not to say this aloud._

* * *

As the day moves forward, Addison discovers that her secret Santa has placed a variety of small gifts all around the hospital for her.

There's a new set of silken pajamas, with shorts and a lace tank top in her mailbox, a few notes scattered around wrapped in wrapping paper, and a sleep mask.

Each little note and gift contains a few lines of song lyrics, and Addison listens to them all and puts them on a playlist.

She finds that she's tired, so she changes into her new sleepwear, and has a little nap midday in one of the on-call rooms, listening to the music playing softly next to her.

Addison feels so recharged and restless afterwards, she just can't wait for what the rest of the day has in store for her.

At this point, Addison reflects on this morning, and she's replaying all of the events involving her and Meredith in her mind and wondering if they were coincidences or if they were deliberate.

When Meredith winked at her, for example, was that because someone had told her somewhat what her gift had been? Or could it be that they'd picked _each other_ for this little game!?

Addison shivers at the thought of that, and she decides that she needs someone to confide about this to.

* * *

"Callie!" Addison calls down the hallway, realizing she'd not caught up with the ortho doctor in w little while.

"Addison!" Callie says in mirrored enthusiasm.

"This secret Santa thing, it's hilarious, and stressful, and also causing me a lot of internal conflicts," admits Addison.

"So… Are you glad that I made you participate?" offers Callie.

"I'm not ready to admit that yet," huffs Addison.

"Ha, you basically just did," offers Callie.

"Fine," Addison shrugs. "And what gifts have you been getting, I'm sorry I haven't been asking," says Addison.

"Jewelry mostly, do you like this bracelet?" says Callie, pointing to the beads on her wrist.

"Pretty!" says Addison, moving them around one by one.

They laugh, and joke a little, and Addison confides a little bit in Callie about her starting to have unwanted (though not at all unpleasant), feelings for a woman.

"I think that's okay right?" says Callie.

"What!? I feel like all of the sudden I'm 'speaking the vagina monologues,' or something!" says Addison.

"And if you are?" offers Callie.

"You are not helpful," says Addison, frustratedly.

"Hey, I'm not gonna tell you what to do or not do with your life," offers Callie.

"Thanks," says Addison. "You are a good friend, you know," says Addison.

"You know it," says Callie.

The two of them don't realize that they'd been observed from the other side of the room.

* * *

Meredith Grey watches Addison and Callie talk as old friends for the whole lunch time, and it's starting to make Meredith really jealous.

She realizes that Addison and Callie had been friends since they'd both arrived in Seattle, but she never realized they were so close they were whispering into each other's ears.

Meredith frowns a little before she runs away again before being seen, determined to fight just a little harder to win over the redhead's affections.

* * *

"Grey… You seem tense?" Addison offers to Meredith the next time she sees her.

"And you look… Glowing…" says Meredith awkwardly.

' _Oh wow, she's melting and complimenting me!' thinks Addison._

"I'm so glad that you and Callie are such good… Friends…" Meredith manages, and Addison doesn't quite understand the reason for Meredith's bitterness.

"Yeah, she's nice. I'm glad you have such great friends too," says Addison genuinely.

"Yeah…" says Meredith, softening at Addison's calm demeanor.

"You know, I could go for some hot chocolate, do you want one? I think they have a new candy cane flavor that's supposed to be really nice…" Addison rambles, wanting again to extend their time together.

"You and your Juju," Meredith says affectionately as she follows the redhead to the coffee cart, and Addison hands her a second hot beverage of the day.

* * *

"I'll have to start getting some of these for you back," Meredith jokes lightly.

"It's no trouble," says Addison happily.

' _I just like to see the way that you smile,' she doesn't say._

"Did you get your secret Santa gift today?" Meredith asks boldly.

"Yes, it came in handy for having a catnap today," says Addison. "It was silken pajamas," she explains, as she realizes that Meredith might not have known that.

"Nice," says Meredith. "I bet they made your body look amazing," Meredith compliments openly.

Addison's heart starts beating ten thousand times faster, and she can't help but picture the blonde admiring her in such a state of undress.

' _Meredith Grey watching me as I take them off, piece by piece, pupils blown, admiring me wantonly…' Addison pictures._

"They'd look even better on you," Addison blurts out.

' _Meredith Grey. In silken pajamas. That she's taking off, and then she's-' Addison pictures._

"I'll have to try them sometime," Meredith whispers lowly right into Addison's ear as she walks past her, deliberately shifting against Addison's skin to make the redhead squirm.

' _Oh, and you will,' Addison thinks in her head, but she can't seem to get up the courage to whisper back._

* * *

After that hot chocolate fiasco, Meredith heads home to enjoy Addison's present for her.

She opens the diary once again, reading the sensual words typed out on the paper:

_Imagine you and me, alone, in the wilderness until we find each other._

_You'll keep me warm, and I'll keep you safe._

_In my arms, I will cherish you._

Meredith reads this note over and over and presses it to her chest.

She takes a shower, and indulges one by one in the chocolates that her secret Santa has bought her, reveling in this fluffy towel she's wrapping herself with that has the same inscription as on the note.

Meredith imagines it's a woman's arms enveloping her in this sweet, sweet cocoon.

She'll have to tell her sometime that of all the presents, this one is by far, her favorite.

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 9**

* * *


	10. TEN

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**TEN**

* * *

It's the final day of surgical secret Santa, and it's bittersweet, to say the least.

Despite all of her earlier protests, Addison Montgomery is now thoroughly enjoying picking out a new present each day, and she's also thoroughly enjoying receiving a new mystery gift as well.

Her initial plan failed completely though; because Addison had intended to make Meredith Grey fall in love with someone else, and now she's finding herself damn nearly desperately trying to seduce the woman for herself.

Before this all started, Addison hadn't given much thought to women, but now that she's been watching Meredith react to being given sex toys, and gift cards, and secret keys to surgery...

Now Addison is just incredibly frustrated, and wondering how this had gotten to be so ridiculously bad - and so fast!

' _It's like my entire day is focused on seeing her smile and laugh,' Addison thinks to herself._

Currently, Addison is putting the finishing touches on her final gift, and she's even adding a card to go with it.

She knows the official game of secret Santa is to guess your secret Santa without having them guess you back, but Addison has an internal need to claim her gifts.

To own up to them.

' _But surely not to confess her undying love for Grey, no, because that would be way WAY too far. This isn't that. This is just a phase, or an infatuation, or some bizarre effect of the winter,' Addison imagines._

So Addison is still freaking out a little bit. Okay, a lot. Okay- constantly!

Everything that seemed to be love to her before is now compared to this… Crush…? That Addison seems to be having.

All eleven years of her marriage, all eleven months of secretly seeing Mark, all eleven days of seeing Skippy Gold in high school…

All of that pales in comparison to indulging in Meredith Grey moments, whether she's present or not.

Some of these moments are just her, alone, smelling something like lavender.

Or her, alone, remembering Meredith bringing her coffee.

Or her, alone, thinking of what Meredith might be doing that afternoon.

It's an obsession that's verging on insanity, as Addison ties and unties this big bow for the umpteenth time, and finally settles on an arrangement she's happy with.

She stows the gift in her car as she drives to the hospital, and plays her Meredith Grey inspired playlist all the way there, singing along with the songs that she now knows by heart.

"Good morning, Dr. Montgomery," says Dr. Yang, and Addison has to re-focus to answer her.

"Good morning, Dr. Yang," says Addison politely, while subtly hiding the gift behind her back because she knows for a fact that Meredith's best friend will not keep a secret.

"Could I scrub in on your case today?" Cristina asks bluntly.

"Sure," says Addison, not wanting to cause any conflict.

"Thank you," she hops off, and Addison hopes that the rest of the morning goes just as smoothly.

_Of course, it never goes anything at all like she'd planned it to._

* * *

For starters, she hadn't planned to practically plow Meredith over with a gurney just because she was lost in thought, thinking about her.

"Ahhh-" Meredith squealed as she jumped out of the way.

"Oh, no. Grey, are you okay," Addison releases the gurney at once to go check on the blonde.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I guess I better watch where I'm sleeping, huh," says Meredith, as she sits up in the gurney.

"I suppose so," Addison purrs subconsciously.

"Are you okay?" Meredith asks her in return.

"What, yeah, I'm great, thanks for asking," says Addison, still a bit flustered.

"You look a bit… Hot…" Meredith says rather carefully, as she studies the redhead in front of her.

"Oh-" says Addison, reactionarily. "Well, it's really warm in here they always have the temperature up so high…" she fumbles, cursing inwardly at her inherent lameness.

' _Not like it's just so hot because YOU are hot…' Addison scolds herself for thinking._

"Your hair looks great either way," Meredith smiles, noting that the redhead's hair never seems to be frizzy.

"Thanks…" Addison smiles happily, melting more and more at each of the blonde's sweet words.

"You're welcome," says Meredith easily, as she picks up her things and walks past Addison. As she does so, Meredith purposefully brushes past Addsion so her skin touches Addison's skin, so that they're so close, if only for an instant.

' _When she touches me, I feel like I'm on fire,' thinks Addison. 'My skin feels as though it's burning where she's touching me. My body hums when I'm in her presence…' Addison moans internally._

When Addison looks back, she can see Meredith smirking, and the look is nearly her very undoing.

' _Oh my goodness. I feel as though she just KNOWS everything that I've bought for her. Every time that I've gone to the mall and leafed through nearly a hundred notebooks. Or picked out a message for her to write. Or gone to a sex shop and even picked out a toy she might like- and use. Or pick out a gift card just to imagine what she might buy. The way she is looking at me now, I feel as though she's undressing me while we're both fully clothed. It's sensational-' Addison's imagination runs wild._

"Hey, Addie?" Meredith asks Addison casually, though if she had been in a more acute state of mind, she might have noticed that Meredith was biting her lip, so she was just as nervous as Addison.

"Yeah?" Addison smiles big with a grin at the use of her nickname from the blonde.

"Would you like to get lunch together?" Meredith asks, seemingly noncommittally, but really in near desperation.

"Sure," says Addison, without missing a beat.

"Great," says Meredith. "I'll see you at noon," Meredith offers, leaning in seductively again, and Addison swooning subconsciously at the proximity.

"See you then," Addison attempts to say casually, though it comes out all huskily and full of desire.

"Can't wait," says Meredith quickly, as she lays a hand gently onto the small of Addison's back before she really does walk away this time.

Addison can barely breathe, much less converse as Meredith does this, and she's left with a pounding in her heart, and a throbbing at her core, and convoluted dizziness that carries her through the rest of the morning.

As Addison watches Meredith walk away, wistfully, Addison notes to herself that her mindset has been shifting swiftly to undertones of admiration, and appreciation, and joy that she associates with Meredith, and her hatred and jealousy and sense of competition has fallen to the wayside.

_Interesting…_

* * *

Meredith Grey is expecting to find a new gift from her secret Santa before lunchtime, but on the other hand, the deliveries have been unpredictable, so she tries not to get too hung up about it.

"Hey Mer," says Izzie Stevens, as she shows off her now complete set of plushies.

"Oh cool, you have them all in a basket," says Meredith.

"Yeah," says Izzie. "I'm going to decorate the house with them along with the lights," Izzie says.

"Nice," says Meredith, although she might not be a major decorating fan, she's glad now that Izzie is, because it really does make her mother's house feel all cozy.

"And what about you, Meredith? What has your secret Santa brought you? You've been so secretive about your gifts… Have they been bad?" Izzie asks her in a whisper.

' _Only bad in the dirty sense,' Meredith thinks to herself inwardly, as she prepares her answer for Izzie._

"I've received some very nice gifts," Meredith offers to her friend mildly.

"So nice that you don't care to announce what they are, except for the dildo you proudly showed off to everyone at the bar?" Izzie asks her questioningly.

"Exactly," says Meredith.

"You realize that this is highly suspicious, right?" Izzie raises her eyebrows at Meredith.

"Uh-huh," Meredith tries to brush past her to dodge through the litany of incoming questions.

"What's suspicious?" Cristina asks as she rounds the corner with her new fidget chain.

"Meredith isn't telling us what gifts she's gotten. Everyone else shows them off, and she's always hiding hers!" Izzie offers.

"True!" says Cristina. "And I am your person here!" she exclaims.

"Hey, I don't have to tell you what they were, that was never a part of the game," offers Meredith defensively.

"Well it's part of the fun of it, don't you want help to guess who your secret Santa might be?" says Cristina.

"It's alright, I'm thinking about that all on my own," says Meredith, trying to find her way out of this.

"Yo, check about this new fishing set," says George, entering the conversation. "They must really know me now, I love fishing!" He adds.

"I think they want me to join you," says Alex. "This is a camping set. Or maybe they just noticed I never had one last time we went camping," says Alex.

"Do either of you know what Meredith's been getting?" Cristina questions. She knows about the dildo and the vibrator, as does Izzie, but Meredith has not been forthcoming about any of the other ones.

"Dude," offers Alex.

"Well, she got ah-" George blushes as he remembers the sex toy at Joe's.

"We are NOT talking about that again," Meredith facepalms. "I was a little bit drunk and that was a bit awful the next day," she grimaces.

"Oh, I bet the gifts have all been like that," Cristina has a revelation.

"Right," offers Izzie, remembering.

"Like what?" says George.

"Dude," Alex chuckles.

"We are done talking about this!" says Meredith frustratedly, as she finally does push on past them to get away from their staring.

* * *

The next person Meredith Grey runs into is Mark Sloan, who is also smirking at her.

"Long night, Dr. Grey," he murmurs suggestively.

"Oh, you wish McSteamy," Meredith rolls her eyes jokingly.

"Hey, I always said if the dirty mistresses' club wanted to have a meeting, and you wanted to show me that new dong of yours then-" Mark says very blatantly.

"Nope," says Meredith, turning on her heels at Sloan's overt proposition.

Of course, in comedic timing, she bumps right on into Dr. Derek Shepherd.

"Hey," says Derek, also smirking at her.

"Hey…" Meredith says awkwardly, realizing he's probably, definitely heard about her secret Santa gift from Mark.

"So, I heard you had a gift delivery at Joe's the other day," Derek smiles.

' _Yup. Here we go…' Meredith sighs to herself inwardly._

"Yes," Meredith says formally, finding herself naturally backing away from her former… She's not sure what at this point.

"You know, I do have one to match," Derek tries to lean in to whisper to her, as she's backing away, so she hears it even as he says it.

"Oh," is Meredith's shrugging reaction.

"So…" Derek goes on to continue, but Meredith wants out of this conversation so badly she fakes receiving a page and scampers off before he can finish that sentence.

"Hey," Mark calls out to her as he sees her running along the halls.

"Gotta go McSteamy, we've got lives to save," says Meredith as she avoids another awkward interaction.

She notes in her head that Mark and Derek were both wearing their cumulative secret Santa outfits today, both topped off with new scarves to go along with the rest of their new clothing outfits.

" _They were nice outfits,' Meredith thinks to herself thoughtfully._

* * *

Addison Montgomery sees Meredith Grey flying by her office from her window, and she sighs to herself as she sees the blonde's hair flowing gracefully down her back, and her tiny, ineffectual fists curling at the wrists as she scampers.

It's so sweet, and Addison can't help but find her mind drifting to all of the non-physical things she likes about Meredith as well.

Sure, she might not be the greatest cook as reported by her roommates, but she's a great and loyal friend. She is a great surgeon in her own right, even if some people treat her as though her skill only comes inherited from her mother.

Meredith Grey is an enigma, and Addison Montgomery can't get her mind off of her.

As she sighs to herself, and tries to focus back on her office work, that's when Addison notices a box that must have been snuck into her office.

"For you, from Santa," it reads, and Addison recognizes the wrapping paper.

Addison's heart beats out of her chest at the sight of it, and she opens it with eons of anticipation.

"Oh!" Addison grins audibly as she opens it.

It's a set of bedsheets, silken to match the pajamas. They feel soft to the touch, and the color is one that she absolutely adores.

It touches Addison to the core, because since she's left Derek she's been in and out of hotels, and while she loves the convenience of having housekeeping, she can't help but feel as though she's always a guest, and that she's never truly at home.

This gift makes her feel whole and healed in a way, and she runs them over her hands before she sees the little embroidering marks on it, clearly done by a surgeon because they are in fact, done with little teeny sutures.

"Just know you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna make this place your home," is inscribed, along with the song artist. Addison recognizes the words from the playlist she'd opened earlier in the week.

She's moved to tears, and she wraps them around herself and sits in her office for a moment.

Addison imagines sharing them with Meredith in an indulgent and elaborate fantasy, and she resumes thinking about this until she's paged into work again.

* * *

Meredith is almost grateful to run into the Chief and Preston Burke next, along with Callie Torres for her surgery.

At least they aren't asking her inappropriate questions of any kind.

Dr. Webber is sporting a new keychain, and Dr. Burke has a new disc set of a show that he likes. Callie directs the conversation about her new necklace, and Meredith finds it quite comfortable.

"Thanks for organizing this," says Richard Webber. "It's been nice to have a fun thing to bond over," he adds.

"Yes," Burke agrees. "It's been challenging and also quite humorous," he adds.

"Mm," Meredith nods along, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself.

"So this afternoon, I was planning a reveal party, are you folks in?" Callie asks them.

"A- what?" says Meredith nervously.

"It's a party where we all come together and guess who the secret Santa was!" offers Callie.

"That sounds nice," offers Richard.

"Yeah," says Burke.

"Yeah…" Meredith says a bit tensely.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" offers Callie.

' _If you say so…' Meredith gulps to herself._

* * *

Meredith finds her last remaining secret Santa gift under the journal this time.

Usually, they'd been hidden, but this one was just placed there, perfectly aligned, underneath it.

There is a note typed in the journal, and Meredith looks to read that first.

" _It's been a pleasure bringing you treasures. Please know that I hope you treasure them as I have this entire experience. And know too, that I treasure you, too," says the note._

Meredith presses this firmly to her chest, before she reads and re-reads the pages again.

She unwraps the small final present from its box, and when she opens it she swoons even more.

It's a weighted blanket, with a fabric quilt over it that perfectly matches her bed set, and room decor.

It also seems like the perfect size for her to snuggle into at night.

"To cuddle you to sleep at night, from me to you," reads a note which falls out of it when Meredith opens it.

The blonde curls it into her chest and wraps it around her shoulders.

_She'll sleep well tonight, feeling safe and loved, she imagines._

Meredith loves that someone thinks about her needs so deeply, and though they've sent her gifts that were perhaps sexual in nature, that they care much more about her than just physically, and about just getting into her pants.

These presents are so much about worming her way into her life; into her heart.

And Meredith is so touched by that.

* * *

Both Meredith and Addison wrap their arms around their final secret Santa presents, and think to themselves about how grateful they are this Christmas.

Meredith feels happy that she's gotten to care for someone, and that they've cared for her.

Addison feels secure and clean, and that she's been offered redemption.

They anxiously await their final reveal party and the inevitable revelations that could come with it.

_As they hope for the best and enjoy the anticipation and the feelings of hope for just a little bit longer._

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 10**

* * *

_Author's Note:_

Hello folks, thanks for all of your kind and encouraging comments. I'm back, aha! This chapter may have been the final gift-giving, but no, it is not the end of the story… Yet! Thanks to everyone who has submitted guesses about the gifts, and I hope you've enjoyed the short one-shots to go with them!

Predictions for the ending of this story are still welcome, and I can reward those with short one-shots as well especially for folks who haven't gotten a one-shot from a correct gift guess yet, as well I'll make some one-shots potentially for folks who've left a lot of in-depth reviews that have really helped in supporting this story's writing.

This fic is planned for 12 chapters, just like the 12 days of Christmas, and will take a little longer, to sum up, and I hope you'll be along for the ride!

Other updates are hopefully on the way, we'll see what happens…

Cheers!

bobbiejelly


	11. ELEVEN

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**ELEVEN**

* * *

"Are you hungry?" Meredith Grey walks up to ask Addison Forbes Montgomery after she finishes her surgery.

"Starving," Addison replies easily, as she concludes her chart notes.

"Any particular cravings?" Meredith asks her.

_You._

"Not really," Addison replies nonchalantly (hopefully!).

"How about pizza then?" Meredith asks her.

_With you._

"Sounds lovely," says Addison, as she picks up her keys. "I can drive," she says, wanting something to do with her hands so she's not fidgety.

"Lead the way," Meredith says, as she picks up her coat to follow the redhead.

' _Now I'm really nervous,' both Addison and Meredith think in their heads._

This was going to be interesting.

* * *

"So are you one of those people who eats pizza with a knife and fork?" Meredith asks Addison suspiciously.

"Only when the toppings fall off," offers Addison.

"Fancy," Meredith giggles.

"I like a lot of toppings," Addison offers back.

They head to a pizza establishment that Addison has discovered during her time in Seattle, and after some brief negotiations, they end up with one medium pizza to share.

"Bon apétit," says Addison, as she serves Meredith a piece on her plate.

"See, definitely fancy," says Meredith, as she hands Addison a napkin.

"We learned it in french class," Addison laughed.

"We didn't say it often, but we grew up hearing that on television," Meredith supplies.

The conversation from there flows simply and easily, and Addison is pleased with how she's able to uphold her end of the chatter without internally combusting.

Meredith on the other hand, is pleased that she's able to continue to watch Addison delicately consume the plethora of toppings without either moaning inappropriately, or running for the hills from the sheer intensity of emotion it produces in her.

"So are you gonna be upset if I steal the extra toppings from the bottom of the box with my fingers then?" Meredith asks Addison challengingly, after they finish the slices.

"Not if I beat you to them," says Addison, as she moves to quickly suck the remaining sauce off of her thumb so she can grasp her fork in her hand more comfortably.

"Mm, my fingers are tasty," Addison says aloud, before she reddens completely in embarrassment.

"Interesting," Meredith muses, while a wide smirk graces her lips along with her amused expression. "I'll have to take that into consideration," she adds, her voice deliberately dropping an octave.

Addison takes a full gulp of her soda to cool herself off from Meredith's scathing expression.

_Holy hell._

The rest of the lunchtime passes without relative incident, and ending with Meredith insisting on footing the bill because it was her idea to eat out in the first place.

"What's a pizza between friends, huh?" Meredith cheers.

"Absolutely," says Addison, as she nervously twirls her finger around her card, as she puts it back neatly into her wallet.

_And she's chivalrous, too._

* * *

As for buying dessert, though, that's when things start to get even _more_ interesting.

"Y'know, I'm not so sure I could eat an entire piece of cheesecake by myself," Meredith muses, as Addison leads her to a cake shop that sells fancy cakes to be eaten in individual pieces.

"Well, I suppose I could help you along," Addison teases, as she suggests one that is covered in chocolate.

"You're on," says Meredith, as she picks out two spoons.

The final kicker though, is the beauty of the two-person table, which is right by the window, and rather small.

They're sitting close, and with the length of Addison's legs, she can't help but be in contact with Meredith's legs over their cake-eating.

Meredith doesn't seem to be set back by this little game of footsie though; instead, she continues it by gently sliding her foot up onto Addison's calf and back again, slowly and ever so slowly working her way slightly higher each time.

Addison tries to keep focusing on the conversation, but she's simultaneously lost in all of the contact, and when Meredith's right foot is nearing the inside of her knee, that's when she finally cannot stay quiet any longer.

"Meredith…" Addison warns.

"Mm?" Meredith raises her eyebrows at her 'innocently.'.

Addison sighs loudly, as she continues to talk with the blonde, as Meredith keeps increasing her ministrations.

Addison can't figure out whether or not the gestures are overtly flirtatious, but she can definitely tell she's becoming addicted to them. The soft contact over a calm conversion is a lovely break from a hard day.

And all Addison can think of is that they still will get to hang out at the party together.

"So… Do you have a good guess for whom your secret Santa might have been?" Meredith asks Addison as she bites into the chocolate cheesecake.

"Nooo-" Addison squeaks out, running through in her mind who hers could have possibly been.

"Any guesses as to whether or not the person knows that the gifts you've been giving them have been yours?" Meredith asks Addison dangerously.

"No idea…" Addison tries her best to maintain her composure.

_Addison wishes at that moment that she'd been better at poker._

"Interesting…" Meredith smirks, as she deliberately takes a large bite of dessert, and closes her eyes and rolls her tongue around it to appreciate it. "Delicious," Meredith says with reverence.

Addison takes another gulp of her soda.

The sight of the blonde thoroughly enjoying a dessert with only her is enough to tug on Addison's heartstrings, and she longs for some reason to confess right then and there all the gifts that she'd planned for the blonde… But this she knows, is not the time and/or place to be making such heartfelt speeches… So she saves that for another time.

"Oops, we don't want to be late for the party, now do we?" Meredith says, as she picks up the last bite of cheesecake with her fork.

"Nope," says Addison, as she pouts at not having been offered the last bite of cake before Meredith had selected it.

"Do you want it?" Meredith does offer, and Addison swears she can feel Meredith's eyes darkening as she glances down at the chocolate cheesecake bite and back.

"May I?" Addison asks her politely.

Meredith nods slowly at her, before she makes a 'come-hither' motion with her finger to Addison, drawing her in, and then reaching over to place her left hand onto Addison's shoulder while she feeds her with the fork with her right hand.

"Pretty good, huh," Meredith whispers slowly.

"Mhmm," Addison moans out this time, savoring her last bite, and also the contact with Meredith as she holds her while she eats it. Addison doesn't want Meredith to pull away quite yet, so she stays there in place, running the cream over her lips, and licking them as Meredith rubs little circles over her shoulder.

"Perhaps the party will have more of that later…" Meredith husks to the redhead.

_Somehow, Addison images perhaps too hopefully that Meredith isn't talking about the cheesecake._

* * *

By the time they arrive at the party, everyone else has already set themselves up in a circle, and has been directed by Callie with their future instructions.

"Alright, so now that everyone has had seven days' worth of gifts, we're going to go around the circles and everyone is going to share one of their favorite presents with the group," Callie starts.

Seeing as Meredith and Addison were the only two left to arrive, both of them end up next to each other at the far end of the circle near the door.

"Well, I especially loved the nerf gun," says Preston Burke, and everyone groans remembering this.

"Definitely the stuffed frog," says Izzie, "It's the fuzziest!" She adds.

"The pants," says Derek.

"Hey, I was going to say that," Mark rolls his eyes at his friend.

"Well I definitely appreciated the 'Chief,' mug," says Dr. Webber.

"The bracelet," says Callie, while pointing to it.

"The Rubik's cube," says Cristina, while solving it in a mere ten seconds.

"The puzzle," says Alex.

"The bouncy ball," says George.

"R2D2 the vacuum," Bailey beams.

And with only Meredith and Addison left, Meredith enjoys watching the redhead squirm as she says "bubbles," and everyone smiles at that.

"Well…" Meredith draws out her sentence just enough to build more dramatic tension. "You all know what I received at the bar…" The blonde winks at everyone. "But you should have seen just what I'll be wearing it with…" Meredith smirks like a Cheshire cat as she sees everyone's jaw drop, and eventually, as Addison comes to the realization of just what Meredith must have purchased with her gift card, she flushes completely, and she has to hide her hands in her pockets so that they stop visibly shaking.

"Are you going to elaborate on that?" Mark asks predictably, all whilst licking his lips in pure exaggeration.

"Wait, but what exactly did she receive at the bar?" Asks Dr. Webber.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Bailey says sternly.

"Well alright then," Richard wisely nods at that comment.

"I think you can figure it out," Meredith teases, and Addison fumes off the blonde's comment to her ex-... someone.

"Nice!" Mark chirps, and Addison reaches across Bailey's lap and slaps him on the wrist.

"Hey, what was that for?" Mark pouts a bit, but also looks smug, as if he somehow knows something that Addison doesn't.

"She doesn't have to share if she doesn't want to," Addison huffs.

"Yeah, maybe… Don't…" Derek whimpers, and Addison squints at him.

' _Since when did I start appreciating Derek not flirting with Meredith for all the wrong reasons!?' Addison huffs to herself._

"Ahem, could we get back to the game please," Callie segues them.

"Yes, thank you," Addison sighs.

(She can feel Meredith's smirk before she even sees it.)

* * *

The next portion of the game is the guessing, and that's the part of it that stresses Addison Montgomery out the most.

"Everyone gets three guesses, but you get more karma points if you guess it the first time," Callie explains to everyone.

"I'm making a spreadsheet!" Cristina says proudly.

"Are there prizes?" Alex asks her.

"There were gifts all week for that!" Callie says.

"But these are for guessing right," says Mark.

"Your secret Santa could give you a prize for guessing right," says Derek.

"But I didn't know we had to organize that," says George.

"What if there was more time to do that part," says Izzie.

"Well, that would make sense, because if they don't guess you the first time you don't need to get a prize anyway," offers Bailey.

"Wait is there a price limit for the prizes?" Richard asks them.

"Would we want one?" Burke comments.

"Well, would we want one to be fair?" Meredith asks everyone.

"We could keep it the same," Addison offers, because she doesn't want to financially stress out any of the interns.

"Is that okay with everyone?" Callie asks everyone, and they all nod with her.

* * *

"So who guesses first?" Cristina asks her, "because whoever guesses first is at a disadvantage because there are more choices," she explains. "I've made a progressive point score to compensate for this," she adds.

"Do you want to then?" Callie asks her, and Cristina nods back at her.

"I think mine was Bailey," says Cristina confidently. "Because she'd know all the latest fidget toys because she has her son," she explains.

"But I find fidget toys so annoying," Bailey protests.

"But am I wrong?" Cristina asks her.

"No…" Bailey sighs.

"Ha!" Cristina smirks widely.

"Of course she isn't…" George grumbles.

"Alright who is next?" Callie says to move things along a little.

"I nominate Mark," says Cristina. "What, I guessed right so I get to choose right?" Cristina mentions.

"Go ahead Mark," Callie shrugs at Cristina, and Mark grins widely.

"Derek," he announces proudly.

"What, not me?" Addison protests, because he had accused her earlier.

"You're a terrible liar," says Mark.

"True," says Derek.

"So are you," Mark grins.

"Thanks…" Derek sighs, and facepalms. "I am amazing!" Mark grins.

"Shut up," says Derek.

"Who do you want to guess next?" Asks Callie.

"Hmm… How about Addison," Mark grins evilly.

"Oh, umm-, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…." Addison fumbles, blushing as she remembers all of the bath products.

Addison's heart thumps, as she thinks in her head how her first instinct is to guess 'Meredith,' because she wants it to be, and she pictures the weighted blanket over her, and then pictures it being anyone else to give her that, and that makes her heart sink.

She doesn't want it to be from anyone else, so she doesn't want to guess in case it shatters her reality.

"Ummmm," Addison takes forever to decide, looking around the room, and searching Meredith's face for her signature smirk, which could be telling. She doesn't find it there though, so she decides to look past it, even as she keeps drifting her eyes back to see how the blonde is reacting.

"I have no idea," Addison finally admits plainly.

"Then just take a guess," offers Callie.

"Oh… Is it…" Addison tries to stall out for time.

Addison thought it was Derek at first, because he would have known she liked all of those things, but then again he might not have known her penchant for lavender because that's more of a recent phenomenon, so then she limits her guesses to one of the girls who was at that sleepover that day at Meredith's, and she figures it could have been Cristina or Izzie, and then she tries to stare them down to see if she can figure it out that way.

And Cristina is smirking at her, but perhaps more out of her discomfort, and Izzie is smiling at her encouragingly, but of course, Izzie just always does that.

"Perhaps it's…" Addison tries, as she glances around the room one last time, and she notices that Meredith isn't meeting her gaze anymore, so maybe it could be the blonde after all.

"Oh come on, Addison," Derek says rather impatiently.

"Hey!" Addison protests at being rushed at this. "Alright, I think it's Meredith Grey then," Addison tries to say confidently, and she does so, and she stares her ex-husband in the eye as she does so, just so she can see his expression, and this makes her bite her lip and smile a little.

"Grey?" Callie prompts her.

"Ha, I knew you'd get found out!" Cristina admits this for her.

"Cristina!" Meredith protests, and mumbles that she's guessed correctly, smiling tightly but still looking away from Addison.

Addison tries to meet her eyes again, her whole heart swelling that Meredith had been so thoughtful, and her whole body heating up at the thought of Meredith imagining her using all of those bath products.

Derek raises his eyebrows at this, and Mark grins again, and Alex nods to himself, and George just turns bright pink. And Izzie finally congratulates her on her guessing.

"Nice job, Dr. Montgomery," Izzie says formally.

"Thanks…" Addison blushes, as she tries to stop grinning so widely.

"Who do you want to guess next?" Callie finally asks her.

"Oh, umm, Izzie?" Addison asks at random, because she's too flustered to think more about it.

Meredith, sitting next to her, leans over a little, and Addison can't help but whisper in her ear a not-so-subtle "thank-you," to which the blonde nuzzles closer to her to whisper "you're welcome," and Addison can't help but nuzzle her back into the crook of her neck a bit.

"Hmm, so my secret Santa's a fast learner, so I think it must be Burke," she announces.

"Yeah," says Preston, "You got me," he smiles.

"Burke, do you want to guess next?" Izzie says.

"Alex," he says quickly.

"Yeah," says Alex. "I have a younger brother so I know all the best nerf guns," he explains.

"Alex do you want to guess then?" Burke offers.

"Callie," he says surprisingly. "I think an ortho chick would know all about transformers," he says.

"You got me," says Callie. "And now… Meredith, do you want to guess?" Callie says, before there are too few participants in the circle to make it fun for her.

"Addison Montgomery," Meredith says without missing a beat.

And of course, everyone at the entire circle knows the implications of this, and Meredith revels in Addison going far redder than a cherry.

"Mmhmm," Addison mumbles, as she sees everyone staring at her, knowing that she'd gotten her ex-husband's ex-mistress a sex toy (or several!).

"I'm a winner," Meredith husks, as she nuzzles even closer to Addison's side contentedly.

Addison bites her lip - hard - not to moan out at the blonde's words in front of everybody.

"Oh, and I pick George to guess next," Meredith says nonchalantly, as she has the game continue.

Off the realization that Addison and Meredith had been each other's secret Santa's though, Meredith started to get bolder and bolder, as she started subtly touching Addison where their hands were hidden by their bodies, on her hip, on her shoulder…

"Meredith-" Addison gasps as the woman's touch makes her breathless.

"I love imagining all the ways you wanted me to be naughty…" Meredith whispers into her ear so softly that only Addison could hear her.

Addison gasps, and closes her eyes not to show the pure lust in them in front of the room.

The game continues, as George guesses Dr. Webber correctly, and then he has Callie guess, and Callie guesses Cristina.

"Alright, so I guess mine must have been Dr. Sloan," says Bailey finally.

"Aren't I the very best gift-giver of all time!" Mark announces non-humbly, and completely in character.

"You're not too bad," Bailey smiles.

"Wait, but then who was giving gifts to Derek then?" Asks Dr. Webber.

"It would have to be George," offers Cristina, who had been making a list all along.

"How did you know my clothing sizes?" asks Derek.

"I just guessed them," says George.

"Must have an eye for it," Bailey smiles.

"I just bought everything in a medium…" George shrugs.

"Well it worked out, I think it's lovely," says Derek.

As the game concludes, and everyone has come full circle, they all shake hands and say 'good game,' and go around to say thank you to their secret Santa's.

* * *

"And congratulations to the gift-giving pair," Callie smiles at Meredith and Addison. "Aren't you glad that you played in the end?" Callie asks Addison.

"What, you weren't even going to play!?" Meredith teases.

"She had to convince me," says Addison, still blushing.

"Are you convinced yet?" Meredith asks her.

"I think so…" Addison says shyly.

"Well, I certainly am," Meredith winks at her.

Addison whimpers a little bit, and Meredith practically growls.

"Meredith I-" Addison goes to say something more, and she tries to find the words to express all the feelings she's feeling.

"Shh-" Meredith soothes over her lips with her finger. "I'd like to take you to dinner, to thank you, Dr. Montgomery," Meredith offers mischievously.

"But you already took me for lunch…" Addison panics, "I guess I should be taking you for dinner for guessing me so fast," says Addison.

"As you wish," Meredith says with her signature smile, smirking as Addison realizes she'd been playing into the blonde's hands the entire time.

"Sounds like a plan then," says Addison, smiling into the hug that Meredith is offering her.

"Mm, or it could sound like a date, what do you say, huh?" Meredith purrs into Addison's ear.

_And this time, Addison doesn't hesitate before she grins, and nods at Meredith's proposition rather vigorously._

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 11**

* * *

_Author's note:_

Hello friends, welcome back, and thanks so much for hanging around for this holiday fun fluffy story! It has been a delight to write, and to interact with folks with. Here we are, after a long and wild ride of secret Santa shenanigans, with I hope a lot of friendship misadventures along the way. So this is sort-of the ending of the main plot of this story… And I'd love to hear in the comments the parts you've appreciated about this work and this chapter so far, and what made this story for you so effective. Additionally, I was thinking of doing a follow-up chapter to this, of their date, and I was wondering what would interest you more for the rating of it? Let me know, have a fantastic week folks. You are the best! Aaaaand...There also might be some more space for some 100-word prompt fics for amazing reviewers out there stay tuned ;)

_**bobbiejelly** _


	12. TWELVE

* * *

**All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)**

* * *

_The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'._

* * *

**TWELVE**

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" Addison asks Meredith with a thrilled voice as they head to the blonde's car.

"I know a place," Meredith says to her cryptically, smirking as she sees the redhead squirming under her gaze.

It's been an entire week since the secret Santa began, and the ever-growing sexual tension between the two women is nearing it's breaking point.

"Are you going to tell me where it is?" Addison asks, despite being nearly sure that she won't be receiving a verbal answer on this one.

"You'll find out when we get there," Meredith teases, as she motions for Addison to sit in the passenger's seat, and Addison complies.

"Alright…" Addison sighs, as she tries to calm her heart rate down from all of it's pounding.

"Hey, I thought you were a fan of surprises, hmm?" Meredith hushes to Addison as she pulls out of the parking lot.

Off of Addison's groan, hearing only the chuckling of the blonde woman as they headed out on the open road, they were off.

The drive wasn't too far, not that Addison knew this part yet, and as they drove there, Addison and Meredith made some small talk about their work, and their patients, and their general day-to-day lives.

"You seriously had to operate on a newborn whilst it's twin was being born!" Meredith says to the redhead, impressed.

"Just all in a day's work," Addison says in forced nonchalance.

"I bet you have the wildest stories to tell," Meredith smiles widely.

"They tend to build up over the years," says the redhead.

"I want to hear all of your stories," Meredith's eyes sparkle as they lock with Addison's at an intersection before they keep going, and Addison shivers in response to that.

* * *

They end up at a little alcove tucked into a corner. It's off the beaten pathway, and further from the city than Addison remembers ever traveling before.

"Mark might have let it slip one time that you have a thing for French food," Meredith grins as she meets Addison at the door.

"It looks great," says Addison as she meets the blonde to go in.

The interior is far more crowded than the outside might have suggested though, and this inspired even more confidence from Addison's side in Meredith's restaurant choice.

"For two?" The server asks Meredith, and Meredith nods and says that she already has a reservation.

"When did you make that?" Addison asks her.

"You were in surgery," Meredith shrugs, and then a smile can't help but appear for Addison.

"Sneaky," says Addison as the server nods at the two of them, and leads them to their table.

The menus are already placed there, and after Addison slides into the booth, Meredith slides in right beside her, much to the redhead's delight.

"All cozy already, are we?" Addison quips easily.

"What can I say? You're all soft and warm," says Meredith, before leaning in even closer. "And…" Meredith begins as she reaches to run her hand across Addison's thigh under the table. "This way it's going to be _much_ more comfortable," she smirks, as she feels from the tensing, then relaxing, of Addison's muscles under her hand just how much fun she's going to have from her teasing.

"Meredith… We're in _public_ , Addison gasps as the blonde strokes her thigh gently.

"Relax, nobody can see anything anyway," Meredith points to the tablecloth that's fully covering them.

"You're so bad," Addison gasps, as she follows her earlier strategy of drinking water to stop herself from audibly moaning.

"And you aren't?" Meredith returns to her, her eyes shimmering with mischief as she mentally recalls all of the 'exotic,' presents the redhead had been personally delivering to her.

"I never thought you'd have known they were from me," Addison confesses, biting her lip in the process.

"Then I guess you're just getting everything you never knew that you wanted," says Meredith, as she stops stroking Addison's thigh, and instead, just rests her palm there on Addison's hip without moving it.

"Aren't you?" Addison asks her.

"What do you think?" Meredith asks her right back.

_Her smile tells Addison everything she needs to know about Meredith's answer._

* * *

Meredith orders a steak with roasted potatoes, as she always does, and Addison orders codfish with herbs and tomatoes and a side salad.

After they've ordered, Addison wonders to herself how many times that Meredith has been here, and if she'd often come here with anyone else, or if she'd just discovered this place all on her own.

"I discovered it once, just exploring as a teenager," Meredith explains, seemingly reading Addison's mind with her question.

"Really?" Addison is slightly surprised, but then again, she realizes that, being the daughter of Ellis Grey, she just might have had the fortune to take herself out wherever she wanted.

"Yeah," Meredith says a bit… Shyly. "Not very often, but it was some of the better times," Meredith sighs. "Usually my mother was so busy, and once in a while I'd escape to somewhere like this," Meredith offers.

"Thanks for sharing it with me," says Addison, "I'm so glad that you'd want to…" Addison trails off as she says this.

"No problem, of course," says Meredith, as she shifts even closer to Addison.

"Jesus, Meredith," Addison gasps heavily.

"What, too much for you?" Meredith continued her ministrations with her hand on top of Addison's hip.

"You're- you're doing this in the restaurant?" Addison asks her.

"Hmm, please, I don't worry too much about what other people have to say about me if I'm never going to see them ever again..." Meredith rolls her eyes playfully. "And believe me, I've only just begun my games with you…" Meredith whispers right into Addison's ear before she nips at the skin right underneath it, prompting an uncovered moan from the redhead.

"Ohhh," Addison moans out, as she feels the blonde's hand inching its way up her sides.

"So sensitive," Meredith smiles, pleased with herself.

"You're a terrible influence," Addison gasps again.

"Tell me about it," says Meredith, laughing, as she watches Addison's cheeks redden under her gaze.

_Addison can't stop thinking about it._

* * *

When the food comes, Meredith chooses to shift her place at the table to the opposite side of it.

"What, do I suddenly scare you, Grey?" Addison teases.

"Easier to look you in the eye this way," Meredith smiles, not ever faltering.

"I see…" Addison says, and then she understands why this is happening when Meredith starts to delve into more… Tantalizing topics.

"So, tell me, Addison…" Meredith begins as she cuts a piece of steak for herself, "what was your motivation for getting me all of those… Interesting secret Santa presents, hmm?" She grins to go along with it.

"Well…" Addison blushes as she digs into her codfish, "I admit that initially, I might have had more… Ulterior motives…" Addison sighs.

"Ooh, do tell?" Meredith says without the least bit of insecurity, and she smirks as she sees Addison shifting slightly nervously in her seat at her expression.

"Well, initially I had this really ridiculous plan…" Addison begins, cringing inwardly at herself for her quick shift of heart.

"And this was?" Meredith prompts her, eyeing Addison and not letting her get away with whatever this was.

"Okay, so I thought that if I gave you really great gifts, then I could woo you away from my ex-husband," says Addison, bowing her head at her own words.

"Well, that worked out for you, right?" Meredith teases.

"Yeah, I guess, when you think about it… But I originally thought I had to make it seem like it was someone else, like Mark," Addison says.

"So you were trying to set me up with… Your other ex?" Meredith asks her.

"Right, well, sort of?" Addison shrugs. "And then I thought well maybe Derek makes you happy so I should get you to think it was him so you'd be happy…" Addison sighs. "But then finally at some point, I guess I just started to feel selfish because I wanted you to like the gifts and know they were from me, even though I was hiding behind the gifts and trying to throw you off all at the same time," Addison sighs.

"So… You were being angsty and complicated?" Meredith smirks at her.

"But not on purpose!" Addison mumbles.

"So you were trying to get me to fall for the gift-giver, so you'd get me great gifts, only to realize you enjoyed seeing me enjoy said gifts, so then, this must have started some sort of snowball effect in which your desires got all reversed and twisted?" Summarizes Meredith.

"I guess," Addison shrugs again. "Though, there was also an existential crisis thrown in there also," she adds sheepishly.

"I'm guessing this was on your side of the equation?" Meredith teases, while she also reassuringly reaches her hand over to soothe over Addison's.

"Yep, pretty much," Addison admits flat-out to her. "What, I'd never fallen for my ex-husband's ex-mistress before, it was a big moment for me!" She adds to that.

"Was it that part? Or was it the woman part?" Meredith muses.

"Both, but mostly the latter," says Addison. "Probably some repressed mommy issues," she guesses.

"Ah, I know the feeling," says Meredith. "Though at least I had that particular crisis when I was a teenager," she adds.

"You've seen women before!?" Addison exclaims all of a sudden.

"A few," Meredith shrugs, and she enjoys a little bit how Addison's brow furrows with envy.

"And then, with the gifts, I just watched you seem to be pleased with them so I got you some more," Addison concludes.

"Well, I appreciate all of your thoughtfulness, Addison," Meredith smiles.

"You're welcome," says Addison, glad that her actions had finally felt realized with the proper acknowledgment.

"Although… Now that we're dating, would you like to hear just how I savored your presents?" Meredith asks, as she also begins playing footsie with Addison again under the table.

Addison gulps as she begins nodding involuntarily, hanging onto every single word as she also enjoys her dinner.

* * *

"So, your first gift," Meredith explains to Addison as she digs into her potatoes. "The surgery was a lovely touch. And I am a romantic, so the words made it even better," Addison beams as she hears this. "What really made me suspicious though, was being called 'Sweetheart,' says Meredith.

"Too obvious?" Addison squirms.

"Mm, not enough on its own. But enough for me to start asking myself some questions when I received some more… Risqué items," Meredith announces.

"Such as?" Asks Addison, wanting to hear Meredith explain this.

"Such as the panties which were the same brand as my… Other ones…" Meredith trails off at that last one, not wanting to dwell too much on the past.

"Yes…" Addison says, as she continues her dinner.

"You recognized that I liked that kind, huh," Meredith smiles at her.

"Yeah," says Addison.

"Mm, and I bet you enjoyed imagining me in them, too?" Meredith says to her.

Addison tries to contain herself, but she lets out a groan involuntarily.

"You know, I liked them so much, I washed them, and I'm even wearing them tonight," Meredith hushes, and Addison whimpers at Meredith's words, and the imagery that goes along with them.

"Oh, that's cool, yeh, laundry, underwear, right…" Addison stumbles.

"That's what you got out of that last sentence? And not the image of me, pulling them up onto my legs after a shower where I-" Meredith leans in for this part, "used your other few gifts, to pass the time…"

Addison now reddens completely, and chokes a little bit on her salad before she pulls herself together, and starts to brainstorm a way to retaliate.

"You know, you're not the only one who's been enjoying themself," Addison finally begins. "Every night, I would take a bath, and enjoy the new bath products. And I'd let the warm water flow over my skin, and I'd relax, and I just kept thinking of all the things that I'd like to do if I had company…" Addison husks.

"Hmm, interesting, go on…" Meredith says, rewarding Addison with a brush of her foot up working up her calf.

"And when I was given chocolates, I would savor those in the bath too. And sometimes…" Addison leans in to Meredith's ear to nibble it just a little bit across the table. "Sometimes, I'd even touch myself… While I was thinking of you…" Addison settles, as she draws her own foot to brush over the inside of Meredith's knee.

"Ooh, and that's very interesting," says Meredith as she leans into Addison's words. "And did it feel good?" She asks her.

"It did," says Addison, surprisingly open.

"Mm, do you want to know what I bought for myself that felt really _really_ good?" Meredith asks her.

"I do," Addison breathes heavily.

Meredith nods at her, winks, and then leans right on into her ear.

"Seriously!?" Exclaims Addison.

"Oh, yes," says Meredith. "I'll have to show you sometime," she offers.

"Yes, please," Addison whimpers.

"Absolutely."

* * *

As the evening progresses, they drift from the topics of fantasies to friendships, to families which Meredith doesn't like to talk about very much, and neither does Addison, really, and they finally come full circle when they talk about their desires, their passions, and what they want out of life.

"I'm tired of waiting for my life to come around," Meredith sighs. "I want to be more proactive, that's why I'm stating what I want more clearly," she explains.

"Yeah," says Addison. "I'm tired of denying myself what I want," offers Addison.

"You do that a lot?" Meredith asks her.

"Yeah," admits Addison.

"I think it's good to let go once in a while," says Meredith.

"I'll try it out for a while," Addison resolves herself.

After the cheesecake they'd had for lunch, neither of them wants anything too sweet, and so Addison proposes they order some sorbet.

"It's fruity," she smiles.

"And light and sweet," offers Meredith.

They wordlessly share it, just like they had earlier with their cheesecake, and this time Addison doesn't have to feel the least bit guilty as she watches Meredith caress it over her tongue.

Meredith drives them home to her place to pick up a few things, and then finally, Addison asks her if she wants to stay over for the evening.

"We've had a sleepover at your house right, why not mine?" Addison asks her.

"Alright," says Meredith easily, not wanting to end the conversation just yet. "But…" Meredith says suddenly seriously. "I don't want to move too fast with you," she eventually states. "I know that might be a few mixed messages from all the flirting at dinner, but I want to do this right with you, so I was thinking about waiting for having sex with you," she offers.

"I think that's a great idea," says Addison. "And I don't think I'm ready yet," she says. "But, I was thinking about you showing me some things… And I've also had another fantasy I wanted to talk with you about…" Addison blushes.

"Yeah?" Says Meredith, and Addison whispers it.

"I think we can do that," Meredith says to her confidently.

"I'm glad," says Addison easily, and with that, they're off again.

* * *

When they arrive at the Archfield, Meredith shows Addison the book she had bought, about how to have healthy relationships, and have physical relationships with women. "I wanted to learn more," says Meredith. "Ohh…" Meredith blushes, making Addison smile. "I also bought a harness to go along with the dildo with the rest of the money on the gift card," she says.

"I bet you look super hot in that," says Addison, as she shows Meredith how she'd arranged all her new bath products, her bathrobe, and even her new blanket.

Meredith had brought over her own gifts, so they had lots of creams and gels and Meredith's shampoo, too, which she already knows that Addison likes.

"So you want to take a bath with me, huh," Meredith smiles, as she offers for Addison to get undressed.

"Yeah," says Addison. "I just want to cuddle you here under the water, and then we can snuggle up some more in bed under the covers, and then we can maybe have breakfast together tomorrow. Sound good?" Addison says to her.

"Definitely," says Meredith, as she helps prepare the scented candle, and dims the lights a little. "I can't wait to hold you close, and finally relax after a long day," she says, as she steps into the bath, and waits for Addison to follow her.

They set out the soap bubbles, and Meredith and Addison take turns creating bubbles, and later popping them. The colors dance over the shimmering water, which is enriched with bath oils and bath salts.

Meredith helps Addison wash her hair, and Addison massages over Meredith's stiff back muscles.

"You know, I could get used to this," offers Addison, as she strokes Meredith's neck, and works in her conditioner to her hair.

"Yeah, I'm so glad I'm in your bathtub," says Meredith. "And I'm so glad that we've had this connection through all these gits," she adds.

"Yeah, it's not even the things, it's the thoughtfulness that I appreciate," offers Addison.

"True," says Meredith. "And knowing that you're sure that you want to create these little moments for me, it makes me feel special," says Meredith.

"I feel so special when you wrap your arms around me," says Addison, as she leans into the blonde, who caresses her back.

* * *

"Addison, I know we're not moving too fast, but may I kiss you?" Meredith asks Addison.

"You may," confirms Addison. "And I'd really like you to," she adds finally.

And _finally,_ under the warm water, and the dimmed lights, amongst the scent of lavender, Meredith Grey kisses Addison Montgomery, and she has never experienced anything like that ever before.

"You're so sweet, Sweetness," Addison says, mirroring her letter for Meredith.

"You're too cute," says Meredith. "And I like it when you call me Sweetness," she smiles. "It's getting chilly here, would you like to head on to bed?" Meredith asks her.

"Yes please," says Addison, as she graciously accepts when Meredith gets out and holds out a towel for her, and helps to dry her.

"You look great in those new pajamas," says Meredith, appreciating her selection.

"Thanks," says Addison. "And you look great in that Dartmouth shirt," Addison adds.

Meredith smiles at her favorite pajamas, and she helps Addison make the bed and adds in her new sheets as well, along with Addison's weighted blanket.

"The message on this made me swoon," Meredith admits, as she tucks Addison under the covers before crawling in with her.

"You make me swoon," Addison whispers, kissing her lightly on the cheek before she tucks herself into Meredith's neck, and closes her eyes.

"Thanks for having me stay," says Meredith quietly.

"Always," says Addison, as she dozes off to the tender feeling of Meredith stroking her hairline.

"Always," Meredith mirrors, as she drifts off as well.

_They fall asleep softly, and when they wake up, they share their joy, that their love for each other doesn't need to be any kind of secret at all, for any longer._

* * *

*

*

*

*

*

****** **END OF CHAPTER 12**

* * *

_Author's note:_

Here we are, at the end of this little Christmas special. Are you surprised? Thanks so much for everyone who has supported this work, and to those who have submitted guesses, and for everything. It's been a wild ride, and I've been excited to write all of this ending plot for a while.

Have a great one folks, leave me a note if you like about your reflections on this final installment, and on the work as a whole.

:)

_**bobbiejelly** _


End file.
